Actor Tony Goldwyn revealed that he experienced ‘casting couch’ sexual harassment by a man early in his acting career.
The Scandal star’s revelation came in an interview with Access Hollywood, in which he explained why he decided to show public support for actress Lupita Nyong’o after she claimed she was sexually assaulted by Harvey Weinstein.
“TY @Lupita_Nyongo ! Women need to know your brothers have your backs. Real men aren’t “like that.” End the silence,” Goldwyn tweeted to the actress on Friday.
“It happened to me as a young guy, when I was literally Lupita’s age. It happened to me by a man and it wasn’t as extended or awful as what Lupita went through, but it was the same thing,” Goldwyn explained. “It was the casting couch and I didn’t understand quite what was going on, or what was happening.”
Goldwyn — who got his big break starring alongside Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, and Whoopi Goldberg in the classic 1990 film Ghost — said he blamed himself for the sexual harassment he suffered.
“I thought it was my fault. I thought I was misunderstanding the situation, and only afterwards did I realize what had happened,” Goldwyn said. “It took me a couple years to get over it. It was similar in that I got out of the situation. It’s something women have to deal with in every situation, in every industry with powerful men.”
“This is about awareness. This is not a new thing. It’s something that we all need to take responsibly for,” the actor told Access Hollywood.
Goldwyn is the latest actor to reveal details about being abused or sexually harassed in Hollywood, amid a widening sexual misconduct scandal that broke wide earlier this month when it was revealed that Harvey Weinstein had allegedly sexually assaulted young women for decades.
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