Actor James Franco has admitted after years of silence around his #MeToo case that he had sex with students from his own acting school. In 2017, the Los Angeles Times reported that five women had accused Franco of transgressive behavior.
Two years later, there was a lawsuit filed by two of the women for sexual abuse. They argued that Franco abused his role as a teacher to get the women to practice explicit sex scenes.
He now says in an American podcast that as a teacher he has indeed had sex with some students. “I didn’t sleep with women from that particular class, but in my role as a teacher I did have sex with students during those years, and that was wrong.” He adds that he did not enter acting school to entice women into sexual acts. Franco won a Golden Globe in 2018 for his role in The Disaster Artist and was previously met 127 Hours nominated for an Oscar.
‘Couldn’t think clearly’
He declares in The Jess Cagle Podcast that at the time he did not see that there was a power difference between him and his students. “I thought then: if it’s by mutual consent, then it’s okay. I couldn’t think clearly then.” After he had conversations about it with other people, he repented.
Franco further confesses that he suffered from a sex addiction for years. “Scoring in women gave me a big ego boost. The problem is, like any other drug, you never get enough of it.” He also says that he could never remain faithful to his partners and that he ended up hurting a lot of people with his behavior. Franco says he’s been putting in a lot of work for years to fix that problem.
Earlier this year, the #MeToo case was settled for $2.2 million. The money is distributed among the affected students of Franco.
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