What happened to James Franco's accusers? Star blames behavior on his sex addiction
Actor James Franco has acknowledged that he slept with students of an acting school that he ran previously. In 'The Jess Cagle Podcast', Franco said that he is now working to improve his behavior after struggling with sex addiction. Franco, 43, said that while teaching, he “did sleep with students, and that was wrong”, adding that he did not start the school to lure women for sexual purposes.
"I [was] completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that, but also completely blind to people's feelings," Franco said. “I suppose at the time, my thinking was if it’s consensual, OK,” he said. "At the time I was not clearheaded.”
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This is the first time Franco has commented about accusations that were leveled against him nearly four years ago. Back then, as many as five women had accused Franco of inappropriate conduct. In October 2019, two women filed a civil suit against the actor, claiming that he exploited aspiring actors at his school and duped young women into shooting explicit sex scenes.
"[Sex is] such a powerful drug. And I got hooked on it for 20 more years," Franco said. "And the insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time. So, and I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people. And so in my head, it was like, 'oh, I'm sober. I'm living a spiritual life'. Where on the side, I'm acting out now in all these other ways. And I couldn't see it." The actor admitted that he could never be faithful to anybody.
What happened to his accusers?
One of the five women who accused Franco of sexually exploitative attitude is Sarah Tither-Kaplan. “I feel there was an abuse of power, and there was a culture of exploiting non-celebrity women, and a culture of women being replaceable,” said Tither-Kaplan back then. While four of the accusers were his students, one said that he was her mentor. Two other student actresses had also recounted negative experiences on the set. Hilary Dusome and Natalie Chmiel claimed that Franco became angry when none of the women agreed to be topless during the shoot.
One of the students named in the lawsuit was Toni Gaal. Another accuser, Violet Paley, said she had a consensual relationship with Franco, but accused him of forcing her into performing oral sex while they sat in his car.
Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal later sued Franco as well as his partners in the school — Vince Jolivette and Jay Davis. They reached a settlement in July. Franco, Jolivette and Davis said that they "continue to deny the allegations in the complaint" but "acknowledge that plaintiffs have raised important issues."