Stylist Suzie Hardy claimed she suffered sexual harassment at the hands of television host and producer Ryan Seacrest and has now come forward with details of the abuse she allegedly suffered.
In an interview with Variety, Hardy claims Seacrest subjected her to “years of unwanted sexual aggression” while employed as his personal stylist for E! News, which included “grinding his erect penis against her while clad only in his underwear, groping her vagina, and at one point slapping her buttock so hard that it left a large welt still visible hours later.”
Hardy claims she endured the harassment for years so that she could provide for her young daughter, and that the abuse only ended after she reported it to human resources and consequently ended her employment.
“As proud as I am and as strong as a woman as I am, as smart as I am and as much work as I’ve done with therapists, it really affected me,” Hardy told the outlet.
Hardy initially made her complaint in November 2017, leading E! News to launch an “extremely comprehensive and thorough investigation” into Seacrest’s conduct. The network later announced that it had found “insufficient evidence” to support the claims or harassment or sexual misconduct.
Seacrest, who has hosted and produced major television shows such as American Idol and Keeping Up With The Kardashians, has vehemently denied the allegations against him and even published a guest column in The Hollywood Reporter entitled ‘What Happened After I Was Wrongly Accused of Harassment.
In a statement to Fox News, Seacrest’s lawyers claimed that Hardy initially asked for a massive payout to buy her silence, which led to Seacrest going public about the allegations against him:
It is upsetting to us that Variety is electing to run a ‘story’ about untrue allegations that we were made against my client, after they were told that the accuser threatened to make those false claims against him unless he paid her $15 million.
At that time, the claimant threatened to issue a demonstrably false press statement unless she was paid. Instead, my client proactively and publicly denied the claims and agreed to fully cooperate with E!’s investigation about the matter.
Seacrest currently remains a host of the daily radio show, On Air With Ryan Seacrest, and continues co-hosting the morning talk show Live with Kelly and Ryan.
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