Two women have alleged that Chris Noth sexually assaulted them in incidents that occurred years apart from each other, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Both women told the outlet that promotions of And Just Like That…, the Sex and the City revival in which Noth reprises his role as Mr. Big, motivated them to come forward. Zoe, 40, and Lily, 31, told THR that the assaults had occurred in Los Angeles in 2004 and in New York in 2015, respectively. The women, who are using pseudonyms, do not know each other and reportedly approached the outlet separately and months apart from the other.
Lily, now a journalist, wrote the magazine in August via email, “I’m not sure how you go about this sort of story and how you find the other victims.” Zoe, who works in entertainment and fears professional repercussions, reached out to THR in October. “Seeing that he was reprising his role in Sex and the City set off something in me,” Zoe said. “For so many years, I buried it.” But, now, she decided it was time “to try to go public with who he is.”
Noth said in a statement to THR, “The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago—no always means no—that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”
Zoe told THR that, when she was 22, she worked an entry-level job for a high-profile firm where she met Noth. She and her former boss at the firm recall Noth coming by her desk and leaving “kind of flirty” voicemails on her phone. At one point, Noth invited Zoe to a building he was staying at in West Hollywood. Zoe brought along a friend, who also recalled to THR sitting in a Jacuzzi with Noth and Zoe. Noth brought along a book that he asked for her opinion on, and to bring it back to his apartment when she was done.
Upon entering his apartment to return the book, Zoe said he kissed her when she walked through the door. She reluctantly kissed him back before saying, “Thank you, I’m going back to my friend.” She told the outlet that Noth then pulled her toward the bed, pulled off her shorts and bikini bottom, and then raped her. “It was very painful and I yelled out, ‘Stop!’” she told THR. “And he didn’t. I said, ‘Can you at least get a condom?’ and he laughed at me.”
The friend who came with her recalled that Zoe was acting strangely when she came back. “She went right into the powder room,” the friend, who is now a child psychologist in Boston, said. “When she came out she was very aloof, kind of cool. She’s a very gregarious, sweet, friendly person. It was a very weird change.”
Her friend took her to Cedars-Sinai, where Zoe told staff that she had been assaulted but would not name the perpetrator, fearing she would be fired or not believed. (THR contacted Cedars-Sinai, which said that it doesn’t keep records dating back to 2004.)
Her former boss also recalled to THR that she received a call from Zoe that day in which she told her about Noth’s assault, but requested that she wouldn’t tell anyone about it (Zoe does not recall this conversation). “I was driving behind where Soho House is now, and I think I stopped and pulled over because it was so horrible,” her ex-boss said. “She was very upset, kind of in shock. I was in shock. … It was a lot. I didn’t know what to do.”
Zoe said she later sought counseling at the UCLA Rape Crisis Center, in 2006. Though she was counseled for a few months, she told the outlet that she tried to repress the memory again “for so many years.”
Lily told THR that she first encountered Noth while working in the VIP section of the now-shuttered New York nightclub No.8, where he asked her on a dinner date to Il Cantinori. Lily, a fan of SATC, remembered the restaurant as the location where Carrie Bradshaw had thrown her 30th birthday party. “I was truly star-struck,” she told THR. “He was hitting on me, for sure. I was flattered. I knew he was married, which is shameful of me to admit.”
During the date, she recalled talking to him about her career in journalism and whether or not he wanted to appear in a third SATC movie. He then invited her to his apartment. “I was not super sexually active, not wild and crazy,” Lily said. “I thought, ‘We’re going to drink whiskey and talk about his acting career.’ It sounds so stupid.”
At his apartment, Lily said, “He tried to make out with me. I cautiously entertained it. He’s older and looked older. He kept trying and trying and trying, and I should have said no more firmly and left. And then the next thing I knew, he pulled down his pants and he was standing in front of me.” She told THR that he then thrust his penis into her mouth. When she brought up that he was married and had a child, she recalled that he said, “Monogamy is not real.”
“He was having sex with me from the back in a chair. We were in front of a mirror. I was kind of crying as it happened,” Lily said. When it ended, “I went to the bathroom and put on my skirt. I was feeling awful. Totally violated. All of my dreams with this star I loved for years were gone.”
Her friend Alex recalled Lily being “hysterical” while calling on the Uber ride home. The next day, Alex said Lily was trying to minimize the incident, “She said, ‘I’m overreacting, just forget it.” Alex also told THR that she had listened to a voicemail that Noth left Lily afterward. “It was, ‘Hey, hope you didn’t take anything wrong last night. We had fun. Just want to make sure you didn’t take it the wrong way,’” which Alex interpreted as “very much, ‘I know I did something bad, but I’m trying to make it seem like it wasn’t a big deal.’” Lily remembered the voicemail differently. “He left a voicemail saying, ‘I had a nice time and would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk to your girlfriends. If we could keep this between you and me, that would be great,’” she said.
THR reviewed the texts between Lily and Noth, exchanged in March and April of 2015. In one text, Noth wrote, “By the way I have to ask did you enjoy our night last week. I thought it was a lot of fun but I wasn’t quite sure how you felt.” Lily replied, “Hmm…I certainly enjoyed your company. Great conversation. Not to go into specifics over text message, but I did feel slightly used… Perhaps this is better as a phone conversation but I can’t talk at the moment.”
If you or someone you know is affected by sexual assault, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or find support online at rainn.org.
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Sex and the City‘s Chris Noth Accused of Sexual Assault by Two Women
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