Busy Philipps accused James Franco of assault, calling her former Freaks & Geeks costar a “f—king bully” in her new memoir, This Will Only Hurt a Little.
Philipps and Franco played love interests Kim Kelly and Daniel Desario on the one-season NBC sitcom. According to Radar Online, the now 39-year-old actress claimed Franco, now 40, shoved her to the ground while filming a scene in which she was directed to gently hit her costar in the chest. After she delivered her line, Philipps claims Franco broke character and got into her face.
“He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’” Philipps writes in her book, per Radar. “And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me.”
The Cougar Town alum adds that she cried to costar Linda Cardellini who encouraged her to tell her manager about the situation. While Philipps writes that Franco apologized after the director and producers told him to, she claims he was never formally punished for the incident.
Franco has yet to publicly respond to Philipps claims. Back in January, the Los Angeles Times reported five different women accused the actor of sexual misconduct. He denied the allegations against him at the time.
According to Radar, Philipps also details an alleged sexual assault by an older student at her Arizona high school when she was 14 years old in her memoir. The incident, which caused rumors to be spread about her at her school, was so traumatic for the actress that she started cutting herself. In the book, Philipps writes that a year later, she discovered she was pregnant with a new boyfriend and had an abortion.
Philipps also referenced the assault on Instagram earlier this month after Dr. Christine Ford spoke at the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing for Brett Kavanaugh.
“#tbt This is me at 14. The age I was raped. It’s taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book,” she captioned a throwback photo of herself. “I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago. Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I’m scared to post this. I can’t imagine what Dr. Ford is feeling right now.”
The Dawson’s Creek alum is now married to producer Marc Silverstein. They are parents of daughters Birdie, 10, and Cricket, 5.
This Will Only Hurt a Little hits bookshelves on October 16.
