Jessica Szohr opened up about the sexual assault allegations against her former Gossip Girl costar and ex-boyfriend Ed Westwick in a new interview on Wednesday, November 22.
“I don’t even really know how to answer it, if I should, because I don’t want anything to get twisted, because I have known Ed for years and know how lovely he is, and don’t think he would ever put someone in a position like that,” Szohr, 32, told Cosmopolitan. “It’s difficult, because you don’t want someone you know to go through that or do that to someone, or knowing them well, knowing that you don’t think they would, and for the girls that are coming forward, it’s like, are they stretching the truth?”
The Shameless actress — who date Westwick from 2008 to 2010 — also told the publication that she has spoken to the 30-year-old actor since the news of the allegations broke on November 7.
“I mean, he’s going through a difficult time,” Szohr said. “He’s being accused of something that he’s publicly saying he didn’t do. So it’s, you know, tough on him. His show got canceled. You know, he’s like, ‘The truth will come out and hopefully people see that and hopefully that’s it.’ It’s just such an unfortunate thing all around. And I have to be so careful, because it’s not my situation and I don’t — I wasn’t there. So it’s hard to speak on behalf of those girls or him.”
As previously reported, actress Kristina Cohen accused Westwick of raping her three years ago in a Facebook post published earlier this month. Since then, two more women have come forward with their own claims of sexual misconduct against the British actor.
Westwick denied the allegations made by Cohen, 27, on November 7 via Twitter. “I do not know this woman,” he tweeted. “I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape.”
Los Angeles police confirmed that they are investigating Cohen’s claims.
BBC pulled the upcoming Agatha Christie special Ordeal by Innocence, starring Westwick, and stopped production on the second season of his series’ White Gold on November 10.
