Sharing her story. Actress and director Zoe Lister-Jones opened up about her experience working with Chris Noth after multiple women accused him of sexual assault.
The New Girl alum, 39, uploaded a lengthy statement via Instagram on Thursday, December 16, after the allegations against Noth, 67, made headlines.
“Last week, my friend asked me how I felt about Mr. Big’s death on And Just Like That, and I said, honestly I felt relieved,” the former Life in Pieces star began. He asked why and I told him it was because I couldn’t separate the actor from the man, and the man is a sexual predator. My friend was alarmed at my word choice. And to be honest so was I.”
Lister-Jones confessed that she “hadn’t thought of this man for so many years,” but she felt a strong discomfort that “came from somewhere deep and buried.” She went on to recall working at a club owned by the Sex and the City alum when she was in her 20s in New York City.
“On the few occasions he would show up, he was consistently sexually inappropriate with a fellow female promoter,” the How It Ends writer claimed. “That same year I was a guest star on Law and Order and it was his first episode returning as a detective after SATC. He was drunk on set.”
The Wisconsin native would sip from “a 22 oz. [bottle] of beer under the table” between takes, Lister-Jones alleged. “In one take he got close to me, sniffed my neck, and whispered, ‘You smell good.’ I didn’t say anything. My friend at the club never said anything. It’s so rare that we do.”
On Thursday, two women accused Noth of sexual assault, telling The Hollywood Reporter that they were triggered to share their stories due to the promotion of HBO Max’s And Just Like That. One woman, who went by the name Zoe in the report, alleged that the actor “rape[d] her from behind” in 2004 at his apartment in West Hollywood. Lily, a second accuser, claimed Noth “totally violated” her in NYC in 2015, three years after he married Tara Wilson.
“He said marriage is a sham. Monogamy is not real. … All of my dreams with this star I loved for years were gone,” Lily alleged.
The TV star denied the “categorically false” accounts in a statement to Us Weekly on Thursday, arguing, “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.”
Noth claimed: “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.”
Hours after the allegations made headlines, Peloton pulled its viral ad inspired by Noth’s And Just Like That role. Lister-Jones, for her part, reflected on how women are “taught” to ignore traumatic events “as a means of survival.”
“Part of being a woman in this world is taking a certain amount of pride in knowing how to handle yourself in these situations. … My experiences are small in comparison to the accounts of assault that have been so bravely shared today,” she wrote on Thursday. “But navigating predation at any level is a burden all women have to bear. And for the most part there is no accountability, and no consequence.”
The Craft: Legacy director claimed the Good Wife alum “capitalized on the fantasy that women believed Mr. Big represented,” which resulted in “emotional confusion” for his alleged victims.
“Perhaps Big’s death is the communal grief we must all face in mourning that fantasy, in releasing that male archetype we as women have been fed through popular culture, and confronting its dark and pervasive underbelly,” she concluded. “F–k Mr. Big.”
If you or someone you know have been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
