Michael Douglas is taking a pre-emptive strike by denying accusations of sexual harassment before they’ve even been made public.
As Deadline reports, the Oscar-winning actor will soon be accused of something that he denies ever happened: masturbating in front a female employee more than 30 years ago.
According to Deadline, Douglas was “uncomfortable waiting to be the villain in a narrative crafted by either The Hollywood Reporter or Variety, two publications he said have reached out to possibly publish allegations involving an employee claiming something happened over 30 years ago, which he vehemently denies.”
Understanding this is a case of “he said, she said,” Douglas has decided to get in front of the accusation, and told his side of the story to Deadline in a lengthy interview.
“I felt the need to get ahead of this,” Douglas tells Deadline. “It pertains to me but I’m also getting a sense of how it reflects in our culture, and what is going on today.”
According to Douglas, prior to the Christmas holidays he received a message from his attorney that THR was preparing a story based on accusations made by an employee who worked for him 32 years ago. “She claims that, one, I used colourful language in front of her, not at her, but that I used coloruful language. Two, she claims that in conversations I had in front of her, on the phone, that I spoke raunchily, or dirtily with friends of mine, in private conversations. I fired her eventually, for the work she was doing, but three, she claims that I blackballed her from the industry and stopped her from getting another job.”
There’s a fourth claim, says Douglas: “That I masturbated in front of her. My attorney was asked, ‘Do I have any comment?’ I said, yeah, let me speak to the reporter. I tried to think to reach back 30-plus years to try to remember. I remembered this woman: sophisticated, intelligent, good sense of humour. A novelist, who has written books and published novels and was an active feminist, and proud of it. My head was reeling. I just couldn’t put this together. I’ve had no contact with her, in 30-plus years.”
RELATED: James Franco Accused Of Sexual Misconduct By Multiple Women
Douglas vehemently denies that he blackballed her. “I never blackballed her. If people from the industry called me to ask about her, I would have been honest, but I never blackballed her.”
As for the claim that he masturbated in front of her? “I don’t know where to begin. This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever,” Douglas tells Deadline.
“I was floored,” he admits. “I didn’t know what to say and I tried to digest it. The accusations are minimal, except of course for the idea of masturbating in front of her. She supposedly had three friends who would back her up, that she had mentioned this to. I pride myself of being so supportive of the women’s movement. My mother was an actress, and I myself married to an actress and have been supportive of this movement wholeheartedly, through all my years. I was forced to look over my past. I’ve had up to 20 female executives who worked at my company in different areas over the years. Over 20 producers I partnered with on pictures have been women. Not to mention all the actresses I’ve worked with and the hundreds of performers. How am I, in a 50-year career in this industry, dealing with an employee 33 years ago who perhaps is disgruntled that I let her go, even though I have never heard from her in 32 years? And a legitimate trade publication is going to try and print this story? There is no corroboration, just that they found out somebody else might run the story.”
Emphasizing that he’s a vocal supporter of the #MeToo movement, Douglas adamantly denies that he ever masturbated in front of the woman.
“There is no evidence. This would not be presented in a court of law. This is way past the statute of limitations,” says Douglas. “I can only imagine this has come up to hurt someone, or to benefit someone in a book deal so they can write a chapter on me? I find this whole thing really irresponsible and it hurts people who are supportive of this movement and who believe in it… I hope this movement continues to grow, but that there is care shown in who is accused and how the accusation is handled.”
You can read Douglas’ full interview in Deadline.
