Actor James Franco has finally broken his silence about the sexual misconduct allegations levelled against him nearly four years ago.
Actor James Franco has finally broken his silence on the sexual misconduct allegations against him nearly four years ago. In an upcoming podcast, the actor reportedly addressed the allegations by admitting that he had sex with his students.
For those unaware, in January 2018, five women accused James of inappropriate and sexual abuse. Four of them were students of her acting school, Studio 4, which was soon closed. Two students filed a lawsuit in 2019 alleging that the classes existed primarily to create a way for James and his colleagues to take advantage of young women. The Oscar nominee opened his acting school, Playhouse West Studio 4, in 2014 before closing in 2017.
According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, on SiriusXM's The Jess Cagle podcast, the actor said, "Look, I'll admit I slept with the students. I didn't sleep with anyone in that particular class. But, my teaching During this, I used to sleep with the students and it was wrong."
The actor then defended himself saying that it was not a 'master plan' on his part but admitted to having done wrong. James continued, "But like I said, that's why I didn't start school and I wasn't the person who chose people to be in the classroom. So it wasn't a 'master plan' on my part. But Yes, there were some instances where, you know, I was consensual with a student and I shouldn't have been."
Talking about keeping silent on this issue for so long, he said, “In 2018, there were some complaints about me and there was an article about me. And at that moment I thought, 'I'm going to be quiet. I'm about to stop.'... Not the right time to say anything. There were people who were angry with me and I needed to listen. ,
James addressed his history of drug abuse and sex addiction. The actor said, "Once I stopped using alcohol to fill that hole, it was like, 'Oh success, attention - this is great. And so, in a weird way, I felt validation. Got addicted. It's such a powerful drug, been on it for 20 more years, and the insidious part of it is that I stayed away from alcohol at that time. I used to go to meetings at that time. I even tried to sponsor other people Tried it. And so I was like, 'Oh, I'm cool. I'm living a spiritual life.' On the other hand, I'm acting in all these other ways now. And I just couldn't see it."