The 'Nip/Tuck' alum reveals a horrifying casting couch story about the 'Under Siege' actor and her spouse Ellen DeGeneres commends her for speaking up.
- Nov 10, 2017
AceShowbiz - The Harvey Weinstein effect is still going strong. Portia de Rossi became the latest person in the industry to share her own experience with sexual harassment in Hollywood. The 44-year-old Aussie actress revealed that the incident happened when she auditioned for one of Steven Seagal's movies.
"My final audition for a Steven Segal movie took place in his office," Rossi wrote to her Twitter followers. "He told me how important it was to have chemistry off-screen as he sat me down and unzipped his leather pants. I ran out and called my agent. Unfazed, she replied, 'well, I didn't know if he was your type.' "
My final audition for a Steven Segal movie took place in his office. He told me how important it was to have chemistry off-screen as he sat me down and unzipped his leather pants. I️ ran out and called my agent. Unfazed, she replied, “well, I didn’t know if he was your type.”
— Portia de Rossi (@portiaderossi) November 8, 2017
Ellen DeGeneres applauded her spouse on her own Twitter account for speaking up soon after the latter published the appalling casting couch story. "I'm proud of my wife," the talk-show host responded to Rossi's post.
I’m proud of my wife. https://t.co/NABbOJoBrf
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) November 9, 2017
Portia de Rossi was not the only actress getting harassed by Seagal. Back in October shortly after Weinstein scandal exploded, actress-turned-journalist Lisa Guerrero said that Seagal greeted her in his robe during her first audition at his house. Nothing happened but she felt like she "dodged a bullet." So she refused when she later got a call for "a private rehearsal" with the actor.
Guerrero lost the lead role for rejecting his invitation but he gave her a smaller role. After filming her scene, she was asked to come to his dressing room and, again, she declined. Her role ended up being cut from the movie.
The journalist was not the first woman to share a creepy story about Seagal. In a 1998 interview, Jenny McCarthy opened up on her audition for his film "Under Siege 2". She recalled, "I go inside his office, which has shag carpet and this huge couch, and he's by himself and says, 'Sit on my couch.' [He says] 'So, you were Playmate of the Year?' Then he said: 'take off your dress,' I just started crying and said: 'Rent my Playboy video, you a*****e!' and ran out to the car."
Steven Seagal also left a bad impression on "The Good Wife" actress Julianna Margulies when she came to an audition at his room. "I saw his gun; I had never seen a gun in real life. I got out of there unscathed ... I don't know how I got out of that hotel room. I sorta screamed my way out," she remembered.
Another victim Rae Dawn Chong told TheWrap that she was being pimped by her agency CAA. "I stood outside the open door mortified that I was told to go to this meeting," she said. "My heart broke because my agency had obviously pimped me out to this creep."
Seagal "walked across his room and sat in a chair and manspread so I could see his junk. But he casually covered back up as if it was a mistake. ... then he asked if my blouse was silk and could he feel it. I said, 'You know what silk feels like' and I left."
Chong later revealed to The Hollwood Reporter the name of the agent. "Kevin Huvane was my agent. Did I call him after and tell him what happened and say how violated and f**ked up it was? Yes. And did CAA take the position of, 'We'll protect you'? No. It became, 'Rae Dawn Chong's difficult.' And it did impact my career. Obviously, I left CAA promptly, because it was like a pimp situation."
Huvane denied her allegations, "Protecting clients has always been my top priority. I would never knowingly put a client at risk. What Ms. Chong describes having happened sounds horrible, and I have great sympathy for her."
Meanwhile, Steven Seagal hasn't said a word on the allegations. The actor now lives in Russia. He was granted citizenship by Kremlin in 2016.
CAA was not the only major Hollywood agency caught up in sexual harassment scandals. APA lost "Stranger Things" actor Finn Wolfhard as a client and kicked out Tyler Grasham following sexual assault accusations. WME's top agent Adam Venit was revealed as the one who groped Terry Crews. Venit, now on leave from the agency, also represents Dustin Hoffman, Brett Ratner and Casey Affleck who all have been accused of sexual harassment. Crews recently filed a police report against the agent.
