A New York singer accuses actor Chris Noth of sexual abuse and intimidation
Sex and the City actor Chris Noth faces a new accusation of sexual abuse. In a press conference with high-powered lawyer Gloria Allred today, singer Lisa Gentile said she became acquaintances with Noth in 1998, when Gentile became a regular at Da Marino Restaurant in New York City.
Editor's note: This article contains graphic descriptions of sexual assault.
In 2002, Noth visited Gentile's apartment, and allegedly began forcing himself onto her. Gentile said Noth began aggressively squeezing her breasts and pushed her hands towards his penis. When she yelled at him to stop, "he became extremely angry and started screaming calling me a 'tease' and a 'bitch,'" she recalled.
NPR reached out to Noth's representatives, who declined to respond on the record.
Last week, The Hollywood Reporter published two separate accounts of women who alleged that Noth sexually assaulted them. Noth denied the accusations to The Hollywood Reporter, saying "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 those accusations were made public, actor and director Zoe Lister-Jones posted accounts of Noth's behavior, on and off the Law and Order set, on Instagram.
Then another woman came forward in The Daily Beast, alleging that Noth sexually abused her while she was a waitress at Da Marino restaurant.
Earlier this week, Page Six reported that Beverly Johnson, Noth's girlfriend between 1990 and 1995, had once filed a restraining order against the Law & Order star, after he threatened to kill her.
Noth's Sex and the City co-stars Cynthia Nixon, Sarah Jessica Parker and Kristin Davis spoke out in support of the women who'd come forward.
Additionally, Noth was dropped from his CBS show The Equalizer, and by his talent agency. The exercise company Peloton pulled an ad featuring Noth it created after the company's bike was featured in the current Sex and the City spin-off, And Just Like That.
Gentile said Noth called her after the incident and told her not to speak out about it. "He warned me that if I ever told a soul about what happened, he would ruin my career and I would never sing again," she stated.
Because Gentile's alleged abuse occurred in 2002, it is beyond the statute of limitations in New York State. At the conference, Allred advocated for the New York State Senate to pass the Adult Survivors Act. The bill would allow adult victims of sexual violence a one-year look-back period to pursue legal action against their alleged attackers. A similar law that went into effect in 2019 gave adult victims of childhood sex abuse a period of time during which they could bring civil lawsuits previously beyond New York's statute of limitations.
"All we want for Christmas is access to justice and the passage of the Adult Survivors Act next year," Allred said. "If and when it becomes law, those who were victimized in New York will have the right and opportunity to finally hold those who have victimized them accountable in a court of law." [Copyright 2021 NPR]
