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Eliza Dushku Breaks Silence on Firing: Michael Weatherly ‘Harassed Me From Early On’

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“[Michael] Weatherly sexually harassed and bullied me day-in and day-out,” she wrote.

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Actress Eliza Dushku broke her silence about her $9.5 million CBS settlement in a Boston Globe op-ed, claiming that comments from actor Michael Weatherly and writer-producer Glenn Gordon Caron in a previous New York Times article were “deflection, denial, and spin.” In the Wednesday piece, Dushku countered the assertion that she didn’t understand Weatherly’s “humor.” “Weatherly sexually harassed and bullied me day-in and day-out and would have gotten away with it had he not been caught on tape, and had the CBS lawyers not inadvertently shared the tapes with my counsel, Barbara Robb,” she wrote.

Dushku also claimed she was retaliated against after speaking directly with Weatherly and Caron about the actor’s behavior, which included telling her he had “powerful swimmers” and inviting her to his “rape van.” During her chat with Weatherly, the actor allegedly said he was almost “too respectful of women.” She claimed talent representatives also spoke to Caron, who allegedly replied, “What does [Eliza] expect, she was in Maxim.” On the subject of a lawsuit, Caron allegedly told Dushku’s manager: “If Eliza wants to be out of the business by suing CBS, she can be out of the business.” Dushku wrote that Weatherly’s remarks were a “deeply insecure power play” based on a “need to dominate and demean.” While her settlement with CBS stipulated that she remain silent, she said she felt a “duty to respond honestly and thoroughly to… latest revisionist accounts.”

Read it at Boston Globe