Grey’s Anatomy Amelia Shepherd Star Caterina Scorsone Made A Shocking Confession
According to a new report from the folks over at Entertainment Weekly, actress Caterina Scorsone (above) who plays character Amelia Shepherd on ABC’s his drama series “Grey’s Anatomy” recently made a very shocking confession! She’s currently claiming that a director named James Toback sexual harassed her.
She revealed in a statement that the alleged crime happened about 17 years ago. She’s joining other actresses that have come forward with sexual Harassment claims against James Toback. Some of them are: Selma Blair, Rachel McAdams, Julianne Moore and NBC host Natalie Morales.
Entertainment Weekly says Toback denied all the claims and even issued a profanity-laced statement against his accusers to Rolling Stone. Caterina released a statement in response to Toback’s denial on her official Instagram account. In it, she revealed that she remained silent all these years because she was encouraged to do so by “industry” people.
She stated, “In response to James Toback’s crass denial in Rolling Stone, I feel I must corroborate the stories of these women. I want to be clear that the predatory director I wrote about in the article I posted a few days back, was James Toback. The article was written 17 years ago.
Many industry people knew about it and encouraged me to stay silent. I didn’t, and it directly affected my career. I stand with all the women who were brave enough to tell their stories. I also stand with all the women who don’t feel that they can speak up, even now. Let’s shine light into all the darkest corners. #metoo @rollingstone.” You guys can view that Instagram post on Caterina’s official Instagram page by Clicking Here.
A couple of days before she released the James Toback statement, Caterina shared the essay she wrote 17 years ago in regards to this issue. She put it up on her Instagram. She revealed that she was just a teenager at the time she was harassed by Toback, and that she had actually quit the business for a short while because of it.
In her caption, she stated: “I wrote this article 17 years ago. I was a teenager. After it was published, I quit the business in reaction to the veil of silence surrounding this issue. I eventually returned to acting as an adult, supported by show runners like Shonda Rhimes. She is an example of the good side of this industry. These examples exist. Let’s be done with the other kind. #metoo.” You guys can see that full post along with the article she wrote on her Instagram by Clicking Here.
Some of the things Caterina revealed in her essay was that Toback told her she was repressed,and that she needed to just “go there.” She stated, “He told me that I was repressed, and that if I were a real actor like the half-dozen names he mentioned working with, I would be willing to trust him and just ‘go there.'”
After refusing Toback’s advances, she lost whatever role she was going for and decided to quit acting over frustration. She described it as “the veil of silence surrounding this issue.” She of course eventually returned to acting, and is now portraying her Grey’s Anatomy role Dr. Amelia Shepherd who is the sister of the deceased Derek Shepherd character.
The Hollywood Reporter revealed that Caterina decided to return to the business after getting a lot of support from producer Shonda Rhimes. Apparently, it was Shonda that made Caterina feel it was safe enough to return to the industry. Caterina said of Shonda that she’s an example of the good side of this industry.
Toback has made statement about this which denies all these claims. He’s even denying all the claims that were made in a Los Angeles Times article that featured an astonishing amount of claims from over 300 women!
Entertainment Weekly says Toback told a Rolling Stone reporter, “I’ve struggled seriously to make movies with very little money, that I write, that I direct, that mean my life to me. The idea that I would offer a part to anyone for any other reason than that he or she was gonna be the best of anyone I could find is so disgusting to me.” Toback has since been dropped by his agent.
The New York Daily News also put out an article about this. In it, they revealed some of the claims the other women made against Toback. Selma Blair is claiming that Toback ordered her to perform a monologue naked while in his hotel room, and she obliged by taking off her sweater.
Selma revealed that Toback made a statement after she took off her sweater saying, “Wow, you need a lot of work.” This prompted her to immediately put her sweater back on.
Selma went on to claim that Toback allegedly started rubbing his genitals in front of her and said, “You have to do this for me. You cannot leave until I have release.” To make things even worse, Selma claims Toback threatened to kidnap her and throw her into the Hudson River if she ever spoke of the encounter!
Actress Rachel McAdams revealed that she experienced a similar situation with Toback when she tried to audition for the movie “Harvard Man.” She claims Toback told her he had masturbated to her a number of times before meeting her earlier that day. She went on to say that Toback exited the bathroom during the “workshop” and told her he had masturbated and wanted to see her pubic hair.
Rachel said it was so unbelievable that she thought it must be some sort of an acting test or something, and that she just needed to play along. She stated, “I just kept trying to normalize it thinking, ‘This has to be some weird acting exercise. This is some kind of test. I just have to show that I am brave and this does not bother me and nothing can shake me.’ I really was frozen. My brain was not catching up.”
The New York Daily News listed another denial claim that Toback made in regards to these accusations. He called them pathetic lies, and that they’re not worth wasting another second on. He stated, “It’s pathetic lies. It’s just too f–king embarrassing and idiotic. And if I were you, I wouldn’t go repeating it, unless you really knew it were true, because it isn’t. So that’s all I have to say. This is not worth wasting another second on.”
The Hollywood Reporter also revealed a different denial statement from Toback that he made to Rolling Stone. In this version, he said, “People read things. it’s all, you know, me too, me too, me too, me too, me too. Anyway, it’s too stupid to waste time on. It really is. It doesn’t have anything to do with my life in any way. It never has. I work seriously with complete integrity. I never, never, never have offered a part to anyone who didn’t deserve it, and I’ve never not delivered when I do offer a part. My word is better than a contract.”
We’re glad that Caterina was eventually able to put that alleged horrible experience behind her and go on to star in Grey’s Anatomy. You guys can catch her every Thursday night on Grey’s Anatomy at 7 pm central standard time on ABC.
Speaking of Grey’s Anatomy, you guys can expect to see a new female guest star arrive later on this season. We’ll be doing a separate post on that this week. Stay tuned. Also, be sure to follow us on our Grey’s Anatomy Facebook page for more Grey’s Anatomy news by Clicking Here.
