WASHINGTON  — Super Size Me star and producer Morgan Spurlock confessed in an open letter on Thursday to a series of sexual misdeeds over the years, admitting: "I am part of the problem."

Hollywood has been shaken over the past months by revelations that A-list directors and actors like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey engaged in a string of sexual abuses.

Watching these big names fall, "I don’t sit by and wonder ’who will be next?’ I wonder, ’when will they come for me?’" wrote Spurlock, 47.

The documentary filmmaker said that he had verbally harassed a female assistant, sometimes calling her "hot pants" or "sex pants". When she quit in 2009, the woman demanded payment for the abuse.

"Of course, I paid. I paid for peace of mind. I paid for her silence and cooperation. Most of all, I paid so I could remain who I was," Spurlock wrote.

Earlier, when he was in college, a woman accused him of rape after a one-night stand.

"Not outright. There were no charges or investigations, but she wrote about the instance in a short story writing class and called me by name," Spurlock wrote. He said he was "floored" when he heard the story.

Spurlock, who said he had been sexually abused as a child and had a drinking problem, also confessed: "I have been unfaithful to every wife and girlfriend I have ever had."

"I have helped create a world of disrespect through my own actions," he wrote.

"But I am also part of the solution. By recognising and openly admitting what I’ve done to further this terrible situation, I hope to empower the change within myself. We should all find the courage to admit we’re at fault."

Super Size Me, which was released in 2004 and nominated for an Oscar for best documentary feature, followed Spurlock as he subsisted on a diet of only McDonald’s fast food for a month. — AFP