Chris Noth has been accused of sexual assault by two women. Image Source: MARCA
Seems like the revival of the ‘Sex and the City’ series titled "And Just Like That..." has invited another controversy attached to it, but this time it's not Kim Cattrall but Mr. Big, a.k.a. Chris Noth.
Chris Noth has been accused of sexually assaulting two women (to protect their privacy, the names of the women have been changed): Zoe (40-years-old) and Lily (31-years-old). The women reached out to The Hollywood Reporter separately, months apart, and did not know each other. They shared that the promotions of his show "And Just Like That...", where Chris is seen reprising the role of Mr. Big once again, have triggered their memories of the horrible situations and incidents they faced in Los Angeles in 2004 and New York in 2015, respectively.
Lily, who reached out to The Hollywood Reporter in August and via mail, said, "I’m not sure how you go about this sort of story and how you find the other victims. But seeing that he was reprising his role in Sex and the City set off something in me. For so many years, I buried it, but it was time to try to go public with who he is. "
Here's what the two women had to say to The Hollywood Reporter about Chris Noth:
Lily was a server in the VIP section of a New York nightclub (now closed) in 2015 when she met Chris Noth and had been a fan of him since he appeared in Law and Order and then Sex and the City. She said, "I was truly star-struck. He was hitting on me, for sure. I was flattered. I knew he was married, which is shameful of me to admit". She was 25-years-old and Mr. Big was 60-years-old when he got her number and asked her out, to which she responded that she felt it was crazy that Mr. Big asked her out for dinner.
Lily shared that Chris asked her to meet him at II Cantinori, and Lily shared it with her friend Alex, who advised her not to go to the dinner. Alex said, "I just didn’t have a great feeling about it. 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. "
Lily further mentioned that when she arrived at the given time, the kitchen had closed and the two had wine and talked about her job and trajectory. She mentioned that she told Chris about her working towards making a career in journalism. Towards the end of the evening, Lily recalled that she had too much to drink, but she was nowhere near blacking out and almost felt that she was having an out-of-body experience while on a date with a celebrity she admires. Chris invited her to his apartment nearby, and she remembered that he had a collection of whiskeys and added, "I was not super sexually active, not wild and crazy." She added that she finds it "humiliating" to admit that she didn’t think that he would try to sleep with her and thought that "We’re going to drink whiskey and talk about his acting career. It sounds so stupid. "
Chris Noth plays Mr. Big in Sex and The City and reprised his role for the sequel And Just Like That. Image Source: Vogue
Lily, when in the apartment, described it as an amazing place and quoted, "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 was 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. " The next thing she added was the fact that Chris Noth thrust his penis inside her mouth. Lily reminded him that he was married with children, to which Chris said, "Marriage is a sham. Monogamy is not real. The next thing I remember was that he was having sex with me from the back of a chair. We were in front of a mirror. I was kind of crying as it happened. "
When all of it was over, Lily added, "I went to the bathroom and put on my skirt. I was feeling awful. Violated All of my dreams of this star I loved for years were gone. She called an Uber and left his apartment. The woman mentioned that remembering all of these brings tears to her eyes, and now when she can tell her story to the world, she feels free. Lily called Alex from the can and Alex remembered that Lily was hysterical and told her that Chris had "pretty forcibly" had sex with her and when Alex mentioned that she should call the cops, Lily refused. Lily has no recollection of calling Alex from Uber and telling her what had just happened to her.
Alex mentioned that the next day, Lily started trying to minimize the situation and started saying that she was overreacting and she should just forget it. But Alex heard the voicemail Chris Noth left on Lily’s phone that said, "Hey, I hope you didn’t do anything wrong last night. We had fun. I just want to make sure you didn’t take it the wrong way. " But Lily remembers the voicemail that said, "I had a nice time and would appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk to your girlfriends. If we could keep this between you and me, that would be great." When Alex heard the voicemail, she understood that it sounded like I’d done something bad, but wanted to make it sound like don’t make a big fuss about it.
The Hollywood Reporter reviewed the text exchange between Chris Noth and Lily during March and April of 2015. One text from Chris Noth read, "By the way, I have to ask did you enjoy our night last week. I thought it was a lot of fun but I wasn’t quite sure how you felt." To which Lily had replied, "Hmm…I certainly enjoyed your company. Great conversation. Not to go into specifics over text message, but I did feel slightly used… Perhaps this is better as a phone conversation but I can’t talk at the moment." Chris Noth mentioned in the texts to hoping to meet her again and at one point she agreed but eventually kept canceling the plans and the two never met.
The text read, "If you do want to have a drink later, it doesn’t have to be at my place... although I do have the best whiskey." Come have a drink with me before I leave [town]. Oh, mysterious one...Where are you? did you go? "
Chris Noth and Tara Wilson have been married since 2012. Image Source: World News Era
Whereas Zoe, who relocated to Los Angeles after graduation to work in an entry-level position for a high-profile firm where actor Chris Noth and other celebrities did business, told The Hollywood Reporter, "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." That time, Zoe’s boss, now ex-boss, also confirmed that Chris Noth spoke to Zoe at her desk, and Zoe also let her listen to some of the "flirty" voicemails she received from the actor. The ex-boss mentioned that she found it pretty odd that Chris, who was 49-years-old back then, got Zoe, who was 22-years-old,’s number and left those voicemails, but she admitted that she did not find the voicemails alarming because "This was peak sex in the city. He was like a god to us," she added.
In Zoe’s claim further, she mentioned that Chris lived in New York, but at one point, Chris had invited Zoe to the pool at a building in West Hollywood where he had an apartment, and Zoe stated to him that she had a friend who lived in the same building and had been to the pool often. But in August, Zoe and her friend went to meet Chris Noth by the pool, and the actor asked her all sorts of questions about her major and what she studied. She tells the Hollywood Reporter that he had a book with him and asked Zoe to take a look at it because he was thinking of proceeding with a project based on it. And then he excused himself and asked Zoe to look at the book and bring it back to his apartment. Zoe, who was flattered that an actor so famous wanted her opinion, said, "He said, ‘I’d love to know what you think.’ I thought, "I’m new." He’s asking my opinion — I’ve only been in Hollywood for two months. "
The woman further revealed that when she went to his apartment, Chris kissed her as she stepped through the door and she kissed him back because she thought a kiss from Mr. Big would be a cool and fun story to tell her friends, and then she said, "Thank you, I’m going back to my friend." But then she says that Chris pulled her towards him and moved towards the bed where he pulled off her shorts and bikini bottom and raped her from behind. She said she was facing the mirror and added, "It was very painful and I yelled out, "Stop! " And he didn’t. I said, "Can you at least get a condom?" and he laughed at me." Zoe added that when all of this was over, "I realized there was blood on my shirt." I got out of there. I went to my friend’s apartment in the same building. I walked right in, 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.’"
Chris Noth has denied all the allegations against him. Image Source: NME
The friend whose apartment Zoe went to is now a child psychologist in Boston, confirmed the story and explained that Zoe was strikingly different when she returned from Chris’ apartment. The friend added, "She went right into the powder room. When she came out, she was very aloof and kind of cool. She’s a very gregarious, sweet, friendly person. It was a very weird change. It was not like her. We left. Riding the elevator was awkward. She wouldn’t talk. She wouldn’t make eye contact. When we got in the car, I started pressing her: You have to tell me what happened." Something’s wrong. I don’t remember the words she said, but I said, ‘I’m taking you to the hospital.’"
Zoe and her friend went to Cedars-Sinai where Zoe told the staff that she had been assaulted and added, "I had stitches. Two police officers came. I wouldn’t say who it was. " Zoe decided to not name Chris Noth at that time because she believed that no one would believe her and she would get fired if she accused him publicly. She further mentioned that the hospital gave her a little crisis counseling brochure and some medicine.
Zoe’s ex-boss shared that Zoe called her later that day to tell her that Chris Noth attacked her, but Zoe does not have any record of making that call. The boss added, "I was driving behind where Soho House is now, and I think I stopped and pulled over because it was so horrible. She was very upset, kind of in shock. I was in shock. " But at Zoe’s request, she did not disclose the attack to anyone. Zoe added to her story that she had started to have nightmares and flashbacks of the night and was finding it very hard to concentrate on her work and her appetite was deteriorating.
Chris Noth’s character, Mr. Big, was recently killed off in "And Just Like That..." Image source: Screen Rant
In 2006, Zoe asked for help as she sought counseling at the UCLA Rape Crises Center. "I had buried it as long as I could, and then I really wasn’t doing well and finally went to the treatment the ER had recommended." The clinical director at the rape Treatment Center, Julie Banks, confirmed that the facility treated her. She was counseled for several months and finally confided in her mother, who consoled her and told her that she was a rape victim as well. Zoe revealed that in 2018, her mother was diagnosed with cancer and as she was dying, she was haunted by the memories of her assault. Zoe did not want to be in the same position where she was haunted by the memories of the night of her assault, especially towards the end of her life.
When Chris Noth was reached out for a comment on the allegations, he denied them and in a statement 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. "
Chris Noth’s character, Mr. Big, was recently killed off in "And Just Like That..." with a post-Peloton ride heart attack, which shocked the fans. A spokesperson for Peloton was reached out for a comment on the allegations against the actor that surfaced on the Internet, and a spokesperson in a statement said, "Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously. We were unaware of these allegations when we featured Chris Noth in our response to HBO’s reboot. As we seek to learn more, we have stopped promoting this video and archived related social posts. "
Actress Zoe Lister Jones took to her social media to share her experience with the actor claiming that he was “consistently sexually inappropriate” with a female promoter at a nightclub he co-owned.
Officer Drake Madison spoke to Deadline and mentioned that there is no investigation at this point. The Lavely and Singer lawyers who were recently hired by Chris Noth mentioned that their client denies all the allegations and is ready to cooperate fully with any investigation. They said, "No one from any law enforcement agency has contacted Chris or any of his representatives. Obviously, if anyone does reach out, we will cooperate fully. "
Information Source: The Hollywood Reporter
