Dushku’s story points to ‘new, horrific reality’
Actress says she was sexually molested at 12 on the set of action film True Lies
Actress Eliza Dushku says a stunt co-ordinator sexually molested her at age 12 during production of the 1994 film True Lies.
In a Facebook post Saturday, Dushku also alleges Joel Kramer, then 36, caused her to be injured on the set as payback for disclosing the alleged misconduct to a friend. Kramer denied the accusations as “lies” in various interviews.
“These are outlandish, manipulated lies,” Kramer told the website Deadline. “I never sexually molested her ... I think she’s making this up in her imagination.” Kramer’s agency, Worldwide Production Agency, confirmed it they no longer represents him.
True Lies filmmaker James Cameron said he was unaware of Dushku’s “heartbreaking” experience and lauded her as “very brave” for speaking up.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Dushku’s mother in the movie, said “I was shocked and saddened then and still am today.”
Writing for The Huffington Post, Curtis says, “we have all started to awaken to the fact that the terrible abuses now commonplace in daily news reports have been going on for a very long time ... Eliza’s story has now awakened us from our denial slumber to a new, horrific reality. The abuse of children.”
Dushku joins the growing ranks of those alleging sexual misconduct in the wake of allegations against Harvey Weinstein, which he has denied.
Dushku says she shared what occurred at the time with her parents, two adult friends and an older brother, adding no one “seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I.”
She says others speaking up has “finally given me the ability to speak out. It has been indescribably exhausting, bottling this up inside me for all of these years.”
Dushku alleges Kramer lured her to his hotel room, put her on a bed and approaching her naked except for a “flimsy” towel, rubbed his body over hers.
When she confided to an adult female friend who then confronted him on the set, Dushku says she suffered broken ribs “in no small coincidence” in a stunt that went awry. Kramer “was responsible for my safety” on the film, she says.
Sue Booth-Forbes, Dushku’s guardian on the set, told Variety and Deadline that Dushku is “telling the truth.” She said she reported Kramer’s “inappropriate sexual behaviour” at the time but no action was taken by “a person in authority” she did not identify.