Actress Kristina Cohen alleged Monday in a lengthy Facebook post that Gossip Girl star Ed Westwick pend her down and raped her three years ago at his home, an accusation the actor denies.
“I was briefly dating a producer who was friends with the actor Ed Westwick,” Cohen wrote. “It was this producer who brought me up to Ed’s house where I met Ed for the first time. I wanted to leave when Ed suggested ‘we should all fuck.’ But the producer didn’t want to make Ed feel awkward by leaving.”
Cohen recalled Westwick insisting that she and her boyfriend stay for dinner and how the British actor suggested that she lie down in his guest room.
“So I went and laid down in the guest room where I eventually fell asleep, I was woken up abruptly by Ed on top of me, his fingers entering my body. I told him to stop, but he was strong,” Cohen wrote. “I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn’t speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me.”
Actor Ed Westwick of the series ‘Snatch’ speaks onstage during the Crackle portion of the 2017 Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Langham Hotel on January 13, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Actor Ed Westwick attends the 2015 BAFTA Los Angeles TV Tea at SLS Hotel on September 19, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)
Cohen said her then-boyfriend reacted to the alleged assault by saying she was an “active participant” and shouldn’t report Westwick because “Ed will have people come after me, destroy me, and that I could forget about an acting career.”
I “didn’t have the support system or time to process and deal with the aftermath of the rape,” Cohen wrote, explaining why she didn’t contact the authorities at the time.
“I hope that my stories and the stories of others help to reset and realign the toxic environments and power imbalances that have created these monsters,” Cohen wrote, noting that the recent throng of women coming forward to tell their stories of sex abuse by powerful Hollywood figures has encouraged her to tell her story.
Westwick, who starred in all six seasons of the hit CW drama Gossip Girl, has denied the allegations against him. In a short message posted to his Instagram, Westwick said “I do not know this woman. I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbM4P6jBU26/?hl=en&taken-by=edwestwick
Westwick is the latest entertainment figure to be accused of sexual assault, an ever-growing list of Hollywood heavyweights that now includes Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, and James Toback, among others.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.