Portia de Rossi the Latest Actress To Accuse Steven Seagal of Sexual Misconduct
If it seems like a new powerful man is being accused of sexual misconduct every 10 minutes these past few weeks – each of those hyperlinks refer to different allegations, just FYI – you wouldn’t be wrong. After the flood of Harvey Weinstein allegations, more and more women, and men, have finally felt safe enough to come forward with stories of harassment and assault. Shortly after the Weinstein downfall, Steven Seagal was another name who popped up as a man accused of using his power to take advantage of women in the industry. Now Portia de Rossi has become the latest actress to accuse Seagal of sexual harassment.
The Arrested Development star took to Twitter on Wednesday to share her story involving Seagal. Portia describes in a tweet that during her final audition for a Seagal movie at the actor’s house, Seagal allegedly “unzipped his leather pants” after telling her about the importance of building off-screen chemistry:
Ellen DeGeneres then showed support for her wife on Twitter:
De Rossi is far from the first woman to come forward about Seagal, and numerous accusations have been made about him over the years. Most recently TV reporter, Lisa Guerrero, who had a couple small roles, spoke to Newsweek about uncomfortable experiences with Seagal at his private home and on set. Last week, Julianna Margulies shared a story from when she was 23 years old and was asked to go to Seagal’s hotel room to run lines. Though a female casting director promised to be present, when The Good Wife actress arrived she found Seagal alone and claims he made it a point to show her his gun. And there’s more.
In a 1998 interview, Jenny McCarthy told Movieline that during a casting call for Under Siege 2, Seagal reportedly asked the former Playmate to take off her dress. The actor’s former assistant, Kayden Nguyen, filed a lawsuit against Seagal that included graphic details of the actor allegedly groping her, keeping her against her will, and reportedly chasing her down with a “flashlight with a gun attached to it.” The $1 million suit was eventually dropped by Nguyen. And actress Rae Dawn Chong (Commando, The Color Purple), told The Hollywood Reporter of a time in 1989-1990 when she went to Seagal’s hotel late one night for an audition. Chong said the actor reportedly exposed himself to her, and said for years he would leave “sex messages“ on her answering machine.