Another woman accuses actor Chris Noth of sexual abuse - Los Angeles Times
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Another woman accuses ‘Sex and the City’ actor Chris Noth of sexual abuse

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Actor Chris Noth is under fire for multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
(Casey Curry / Invision / Associated Press)
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Another woman has accused “Sex and the City” and “And Just Like That ...” actor Chris Noth of sexually abusing her.

During a virtual news conference Thursday with attorney Gloria Allred, singer-songwriter Lisa Gentile said that she and Noth were acquaintances at Da Marino Ristorante Italiano in New York, and she alleged that he abused her at her apartment after he drove her home in early 2002.

“I was afraid to come forward because of Mr. Noth’s power and his threats to ruin my career,” Gentile said. “I’m speaking out now in support of the other four women who have courageously come forward before me. I feel that we should have our day in court to seek to hold Mr. Noth accountable for what he did.”

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The New York resident, 49, said she met Noth in 1998. She alleged that when they arrived at her apartment on a Saturday night in 2002, Noth asked if he could come up. When she said she couldn’t offer him anything to drink, she alleged that he said, “that’s OK” and that he just wanted to see where she lived.

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Gentile, who was 29 at the time of the alleged incident, said that he kissed her right away.

“Then he leaned against the kitchen countertop and forcibly pulled me against him. He was slobbering all over me. I quickly became uncomfortable,” she said.

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She also alleged that Noth became more aggressive and squeezed her breasts, even though she was “trying to get him to stop.”

“He forced my hands to pull up his shirt exposing his belly and then even harder he pushed my hands down toward his penis,” she said. “I finally managed to push him away and get out of his grasp and yell, ‘No, I don’t want this.’ He became extremely angry and started screaming and calling me a tease and a bitch. He stormed out of my apartment.”

Gentile said she told her roommate about the alleged incident. The next day, she said Noth called her roommate’s landline “which [was] not under my name” and warned her that if she told anyone what happened that he would ruin her career, she’d never sing again and that she’d be blacklisted.

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Representatives for Noth did not comment Thursday on Gentile’s allegations.

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The alleged incident had “a very serious emotional impact” on Gentile, Allred said, but declined to say how it affected her career.

Allred noted that it’s too late for Gentile “to have access to justice” because the statute of limitations in New York to file and litigate a lawsuit over her allegations has expired.

However, she encouraged the stars of “And Just Like That ...” to “take action to speak out in support” of the Adult Survivors Act in New York to extend the statute and to urge New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to include it in her policy agenda.

Noth’s past is being scrutinized in the wake of multiple allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.

The actor, who has been weathering the fallout since two women went public with assault allegations in the Hollywood Reporter last week, has denied the claims. But that hasn’t halted new allegations against him, nor has it stopped the internet from dissecting what he has said in the past.

On Wednesday, Heather Kristin, who worked as a stand-in for “Sex and the City” star Kristin Davis for four seasons, wrote an op-ed in the Independent accusing Noth of “toxic” behavior while working on the comedy. She said she too “felt relief” when Noth’s Mr. Big was killed off in the first episode of the HBO Max revival this month.

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“The first time the ‘alpha male’ actor slid his hand down my back and over my butt, I flinched,” Kristin wrote. “I was in my mid-20’s and had worked as an extra on movie sets for over a decade; I had never been manhandled. ‘That’s your spot, sweetie,’ Noth said, inching even closer.”

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Kristin said she tried her best to stay out of his path but felt that Noth’s alleged behavior “taught others how to treat” her. Then, about a year later, she said she stood up for Cynthia Nixon’s stand-in after another alleged incident.

“Chris Noth pointed to another stand-in and said, ‘I want that one tied up, gagged and brought to my trailer.’ When he got near me, I balled up my fists, squared my shoulders, and said, ‘This is my and her space.’ He backed up, dramatically putting his hands up in the air and said, ‘Whoa, there, little lady!’ He didn’t even know my name,” she wrote. “I clenched my jaw and didn’t respond. The crew laughed. But I had had enough; I finally stood up for myself and for the other stand-in.”

In an article she previously wrote for the Independent, Kristin alleged an “alpha male” actor made lewd comments about Nixon’s stand-in, though she did not name him at the time. Noth’s team has denied her claims.

“Her original op-Ed was published in the spring of last year with no subjects named. Now that everyone is piling onto Chris Noth, the timing is unquestionably convenient to drag him into her ‘recollection’ of events,” a spokesperson for Noth said in a Thursday statement to The Times. “Chris denies these allegations and there’s never been a single complaint or report about him acting inappropriately on the set of ‘Sex and the City.’”

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Noth has since been dropped by his talent agency, axed from “The Equalizer” series and scrubbed from a viral ad for Peloton that came out on the heels of his “And Just Like That ...” character’s demise.

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The reckoning has come in the wake of last Thursday’s report in the Hollywood Reporter that detailed the accounts of two women — one who accused Noth of sexual assault in 2004 and the other who alleged Noth sexually assaulted her in 2015. The two women said they were triggered by his return to the HBO Max series and all the fanfare that came along with it.

The next day, actor and director Zoe Lister-Jones accused Noth of misconduct on the “Law & Order” set and said that he “capitalized on the fantasy that women believed Mr. Big represented.” By Friday night, the Daily Beast published allegations made by a 30-year-old tech executive who alleged that Noth sexually assaulted her in 2010 when she was 18.

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“Sex and the City” stars Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon and Kristin Davis released a joint statement Monday saying that they were “saddened” by the allegations and that they support and commend the women who came forward.

Allegations from a restraining order filed by Noth’s ex-girlfriend Beverly Johnson have also resurfaced. Others highlighted similarities between the women’s allegations to Noth’s role in Elizabeth Wood’s 2016 crime drama, “White Girl.”

Noth played predatory, high-powered attorney George in the film, and interviews he gave about the “dark” role have been making the rounds online.

“Well, as written, you gotta do what’s on the page. And ultimately I had to go to that place, which is a pretty ugly place,” Noth told Esquire. “I think [Wood] tapped into something, that there’s always dirty little secrets in a lot of men, who, when given the opportunity, will go to a place they wouldn’t even admit to themselves maybe, when it comes to sex.

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“And that’s what this guy did: took full advantage of a situation and got what he wanted. I think that exists out there, and I just had to go to that ugly place.”

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