Eliza Dushku’s shock claim
The actress says she was assaulted at age 12 while filming ‘True Lies’
AS ONE OF THE GROWING number of sexual misconduct claims to have emerged from Hollywood following the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the Jan. 13 allegation by Eliza Dushku that she was molested as a 12-yearold during the filming of True Lies has created a new level of horror in the industry. Dushku’s co-star Jamie Lee Curtis, who played her mother in the Arnold Schwarzenegger action-comedy, said the actress’s claims she was molested by the film’s stunt co-ordinator, Joel Kramer, has “awakened us from our denial slumber to a new horrific reality. The abuse of children.”
In a lengthy Facebook post, Dushku, now 37, said that during filming, Kramer, then 36, had groomed her before taking her to his hotel room where she alleges he emerged from the bathroom wearing only a towel and “laid me down on the bed, wrapped me with his gigantic writhing body and rubbed all over me.” Kramer vehemently denied the accusations, describing them as “outlandish manipulated lies.” The famed stuntman, who on Jan. 14 was dropped as a client by Worldwide Production Agency, told Deadline: “I never sexually molested her. I’m sick to my stomach. It’s not true. I think she’s making this up in her imagination. It’s all lies.”
Curtis said Dushku had told her of the alleged incident years ago. “I was shocked and saddened then and still am today.” The film’s director, James Cameron, reacted on Jan. 13, commending Dushku’s “brave” decision to go public. “Had I known about it, there would have been no mercy,” he said.
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