Blake Lively: Not everybody is free

Blake Lively “can’t fathom” how sex trafficking is such a “prevalent issue” in America.

The 27-year-old actress recently took part in new PBS series A Path Appears where she visited anti-trafficking organisation My Life My Choice. The charity’s aim is to prevent the commercial sexual exploitation of adolescents in the United States, something which shocked Blake in its prevalence.

“I thought of sex trafficking as something that happened elsewhere,” she admitted in a clip from the first of three episodes. “To see it happening in the United States, it seems sort of impossible. You can't fathom that this is sort of a prevalent issue, because where are these girls coming from'"

Blake visited Boston, Massachusetts during her trip, which is where her husband Ryan Reynolds was living when they first started dating in 2011. The Gossip Girl actress, who gave birth to a little girl last month, heard stories from young women who escaped the trafficking industry after being forced into it earlier in life.

"I have a greater sense of the fact that not everybody is free," she revealed. “We're not going to save all the children overnight. But these women will raise their children to be more educated, to be more aware. And it breaks the cycle. The most powerful thing is for women not just to be the beneficiaries of the change, but to be agents of it. My Life My Choice is such a powerful organisation because it utilises survivors."

Blake isn’t the only celebrity to take part in the series. Mia Farrow and Ashley Judd will also be shown taking on causes that are close to their hearts.