An actor who made his career appealing to the female audience in a ‘big’ way throughout the late nineties and early two-thousands has suddenly found himself at the center of a #MeToo firestorm that has rendered his long and prosperous career into ashes within a matter of days. On December 16th the story broke from The Hollywood Reporter that famed television actor Chris Noth has been accused by two women in completely unrelated incidents of sexual assault. The fallout was nearly immediate and devastating, with the Noth’s contract for the CBS show ‘The Equalizer’ terminated alongside his being dropped by talent agency A3 Artists, and a $12 million deal to purchase his Ambhar brand of tequila was spiked when “Entertainment Arts Research, Inc. (EARI), a beverage company announced in a press release Friday that the deal with Ambhar was canceled due to “the recent allegations that have come to light against the actor.” according to Today. Exercise equipment manufacturer Peloton also removed an ad featuring Noth in connection with his “Sex and the City” appearance and the HBO revival “And Just Like That…”
“Chris Noth will no longer film additional episodes of The Equalizer, effective immediately,” Universal Television and CBS confirmed.
The Sexual Assault Allegations
According to the report from The Hollywood reporter, two women, known by pseudonyms as Zoe, 40, and Lily, 31 have alleged that Noth assaulted them. Both women allegedly approached THR in separate instances a few months apart from one another claiming that they were moved to do so by the upcoming release of HBO Max’s Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That. According to the salacious exposé the shows, “in which Noth reprises his role as Mr. Big, stirred painful memories of incidents they say occurred in Los Angeles in 2004 and in New York in 2015, respectively.”
Let’s take a look at the claims as published in The Hollywood Reporter :
Zoe, at the time of her incident in 2004, 22-years-old claimed. that while she worked for a high profile firm where Noth and other celebrities were regularly conducting business, she had the following experiences.
- “He would walk by my desk and flirt with me. He somehow got my number from the directory and was leaving messages on my work phone. My boss was like, ‘Mr. Big’s leaving messages on your voicemail,’” she says. That (now former) boss tells THR she witnessed Noth talking to Zoe at her desk. Zoe also let her listen to some “kind of flirty” voicemails from him. The ex-boss says she thought it odd that Noth, who was 49 at the time, had gotten Zoe’s number and left those messages but says she didn’t find it alarming. “This was peak Sex and the City,” she says. “He was like a god to us.”
- She claims that after returning a lent book to Noth’s New York apartment he kissed her, and she kissed him back tentatively and then attempted to leave. “But she says he then pulled her toward him, moved her toward the bed, pulled off her shorts and bikini bottom, and began to rape her from behind. She was facing a mirror. “It was very painful and I yelled out, ‘Stop!’” she says. “And he didn’t. I said, ‘Can you at least get a condom?’ and he laughed at me.”
- When it was over, she says, “I realized there was blood on my shirt. I got out of there. I went to my friend’s apartment [in the same building].” The friend visiting from college was already there, she says. “I walked right in and went to the bathroom and tried to get the blood out of my shirt. They wanted to know what happened. I said, ‘I just want to go home.’” The visiting friend pursued her, and said, “You’re scaring me.”
Zoe was taken to Cedar Sinai Hospital by her friend and treated with stitches for an unspecified wound. Zoe’s former employer corroborated that she informed them of the alleged assault and in 2006 she sought counseling at the UCLA Rape Crisis Center who confirmed she was treated without providing details.
Lily who was 25 at the time of her incident in 2015 was a server in the VIP area of the defunct New York City nightclub No.8, which is where she met Noth, then 60. Lily admitted to being starstruck and recognizing the actor from Sex And The City. Mr. Noth then allegedly asked for her phone number and asked Lily out.
- “I was like, ‘That’s crazy, Mr. Big is asking me out for dinner.’” And he asked her to meet him at Il Cantinori, which as a fan of the show, Lily knew had been the setting for an SATC episode.”
- A friend of Lily’s advised against the date. “I just didn’t have a great feeling about it,” she says. “She was like, ‘No, I think he’ll be nice about it. He was nice and respectful when I met him at the club. It’s just dinner.’ But I’ve always been the mom of everyone. Also, when you’re in it, you don’t see the red flags.”
- At the restaurant, the kitchen was closed and the two sat at the bar where Noth talked about his unwillingness to appear in the third SATC movie which found its’ way into development hell in 2017. “He asked me a lot about my job and my trajectory,” she says. She told him she was working on a career in journalism.”
- Lily went on to claim that she had too much to drink and was invited back to his apartment nearby when the restaurant closed, as he offered that they could sample his collection of whiskeys. “I was not super sexually active, not wild and crazy,” Lily says. Now, she finds it “humiliating” to admit that she didn’t think he would try to sleep with her. “I thought, ‘We’re going to drink whiskey and talk about his acting career.’ It sounds so stupid.”
- She described the apartment as “an amazing place. We were listening to music, and he has all these books about art and fashion. 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.” He thrust his penis into her mouth, she says.”
- Lily went on to state that she told Noth she was married with children, “He said marriage is a sham. Monogamy is not real.” The next thing she knew, “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.” When it was over, she says, “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.”
A day after The Hollywood Reporter story broke, a third woman came forward according to The Daily Beast (nope, not linking it) accusing the actor of sexual assault as well allegedly taking place in 2010.
In a statement to NBC News following the first two allegations, Mr. Noth denied them and said, “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.”
After the Daily Beast story broke a spokesperson for Noth released a statement saying, “The story is a complete fabrication, and the alleged accounts detailed throughout read like a piece of bad fiction. Chris has no knowledge of who this individual is and, as stated yesterday, has and would never cross that line.”
As of this writing, allegations of additional assaults have come forward with the latest allegedly engaging attorney Gloria Allred.
A 5th woman has come forward to accuse #ChrisNoth of misconduct. She and her attorney, #GloriaAllred, will hold a press conference where she is expected to call on #SJP and the other stars of #AndJustLikeThat. #RadarExclusivehttps://t.co/W0gQacS42y
— Radar Online (@radar_online) December 23, 2021
Charges against Noth have not been announced nor has any potential legal action been reported. However, in the court of public opinion, a verdict appears to have been returned in the spirit of #BelieveAllWomen and #MeToo. In spite of Noth’s ardent denials and attempts to defend himself, this would appear to be the career-ending scandal for the actor.
