Yael Stone, who is well known for her work on Orange is the New Black, has come forward to accuse Oscar winning actor Geoffrey Rush of sexual misconduct while they worked together on an Australian production of The Diary of a Madman back in 2010.
First, they began a text exchange while working together.
“I was so flattered that someone like that would spend their time texting me into the very early hours of the morning,” she told the New York Times. “Gradually the text messages became more sexual in nature, but always encased in this very highfalutin intellectual language.”
“I’m embarrassed by the ways I participated. I certainly wouldn’t engage as the person I am now in the way I did when I was 25,” she said.
Their dressing room had two shower cubicles next to each other. Yael details what happened after one of their shows one evening.
“I remember I looked up to see there was a small shaving mirror over the top of the partition between the showers and he was using it to look down at my naked body. I believe that it was meant with a playful intention, but the effect was that I felt there was nowhere for me to feel safe and unobserved,” she said.
“I said some words to the effect of, ‘Bugger off, Geoffrey.’ I was walking a very delicate line where I needed to manage these uncomfortable moments but never, never offend him,” she continued. “There was no part of my brain considering speaking to anyone in any official capacity. This was a huge star. What were they going to do? Fire Geoffrey and keep me?”
Another evening, she claims he danced naked in front of her while she removed her makeup.
Rush has denied her allegations, saying, “From the outset I must make it clear that the allegations of inappropriate behaviour made by Yael Stone are incorrect and in some instances have been taken completely out of context. However, clearly Yael has been upset on occasion by the spirited enthusiasm I generally bring to my work. I sincerely and deeply regret if I have caused her any distress. This, most certainly, has never been my intention.”
Rush has faced allegations of “inappropriate behavior” in the past.