People often ask me for examples of well-known men who’ve spoken out about men’s violence against women. Alas, there aren’t too many, in the U.S. and globally, especially when one considers the vast scale and scope of this ongoing human tragedy. That’s why the actor Patrick Stewart’s death at age 86 on Oct. 30 was so devastating to many people in the gender-based violence (GBV) sector. Stewart, whose father regularly beat his mother and terrorized the kids, was one of the most famous men brave and bold enough to talk openly and honestly about this scourge—and urge other men to act. Stewart spoke about dreading his father’s violent rampages against his mother, and the complex range of emotions that evoked from the time he was a 7-year-old, right up through the end of his long life. “In my adult life,” he wrote in 2009, “I have struggled to overcome the bad lessons of my father's behavior, this corrosive example of male irresponsibility. But the most oppressive aspect of these experiences was the loneliness.” When Stewart told his story, he wasn’t simply sharing a salacious detail about the troubled family background of a global celebrity. He was speaking for countless other adults—including millions of men—who silently carry the wounds of traumatic childhoods into their adult lives and relationships. Sir Patrick was also stepping into the role of the adult who had never spoken up for him.