In a series of tweets, the 'Charmed' actress claims that she doesn't seek to 'destroy' with her sexual misconduct allegations against the 'Downsizing' director, but wants 'an acknowledgement and an apology.'

• Aug 18, 2020

AceShowbiz - Rose McGowan has ousted another prominent Hollywood figure as an alleged sexual predator. The actress took to Twitter on Monday, August 17 to reveal that she was sexually assaulted by the director when she was 15.

"Alexander Payne. You sat me down & played a soft-core porn movie you directed for Showtime under a different name," she recalled the alleged incident in the first tweet. "I still remember your apartment in Silverlake. You are very well-endowed. You left me on a street corner afterwards. I was 15."

As to what she seeks with the expose, she said, "I just want an acknowledgement and an apology. I do not want to destroy." The 46-year-old star also shared a throwback black-and-white picture of her when she was 15.

In a more elaborate statement posted a few hours later, McGowan detailed her experience with Payne. "Last night I dropped a bomb of truth. For years I had thought a man I had sexual relations with was a a sexual experience I had. I now know I was groomed," she began.

The "Jawbreaker" star claimed the experience led her to quit acting until she was "discovered" at 21. Following her return to the industry, she tried to remain friendly with Payne, which she blamed on "how deep in the Cult of Hollywood I was."

McGowan said she "re-evaluated the situation" three weeks after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke. "I feel badly about throwing a bomb into someone's life and career, but I guess that's social conditioning. I'm more sad than angry," she noted. "Sad for 15 year-old me. Sad for the adult me that still thought it was a choice I made."

Stressing that "grooming is real," she shared her experience to let people who share the similar experience with her "know that it's not your fault if you were mentally massaged into thinking it's okay." She added, "It is not. I know this now. ... That is deep societal programming."

"If you are out there trying to have sex with an underage minor, you are committing a crime, even if the minor doesn’t know it. I was attracted to him, so I thought it was on me, but that's not correct. I was not an adult," she continued. "Please recognize that if this has happened to you, the shame is not yours, it's theirs."

McGowan first referred to an incident of alleged misconduct when she was 15 in an interview with Ronan Farrow in 2018. She didn't name her alleged abuser at the time, saying that she would eventually come forward with the man’s name when she was ready. When asked by Variety why she came up with the story now, she replied, "It just came over me. It was time."

Payne, a two-time Oscar winner for best adapted screenplay for "Sideways" in 2005 and "The Descendants" in 2012, is also known for directing "Election" (1999), "About Schmidt" (2002), "Nebraska" (2013) and "Downsizing" (2017). He has not responded to McGowan's allegations.