Portia de Rossi latest woman to accuse Steven Seagal of sexual misconduct
Portia de Rossi said Steven Seagal unzipped his pants in front of her when she was auditioning for his movie years ago. The Australian actress’ allegation came a week after “The Good Wife” former star Julianna Margulies also accused the 65-year-old martial artist of trying to sexually harass her when she was younger.
In a tweet on Thursday, the 44-year-old “Arrested Development” actress said Seagal was inappropriate with her when she was auditioning of a role in one of his films. When she got away and told her agent, she was rebuffed instead of supported.
“My final audition for a Steven Segal [sic] movie took place in his office. He told me how important it was to have chemistry off-screen as he sat me down and unzipped his leather pants. I ran out and called my agent. Unfazed, she replied, ‘well, I didn’t know if he was your type.”
De Rossi did not name the movie she was auditioning for or the name of her agent. Her followers commended her for speaking out, though they wanted her to name and shame the agent.
My final audition for a Steven Segal movie took place in his office. He told me how important it was to have chemistry off-screen as he sat me down and unzipped his leather pants. I️ ran out and called my agent. Unfazed, she replied, “well, I didn’t know if he was your type.”
— Portia de Rossi (@portiaderossi) November 8, 2017
I’m so sad that happened to you. I believe you, I support you, I appreciate your courage in speaking up. People who’ve never been there, don’t understand. So glad you ran out! Sad your agent didn’t support you. No one listened or cared back then. #MeToo
— Dame Rio Kelley (@DameRioKelley) November 8, 2017
It's so offensive that HE did that, and somehow even moreso that another woman just shrugged it off as "no biggie." The predator and the enabler: sounds like an dark Aesop's Fable. OMG, that pisses me off #metoo
— Mirtika (@MirWriter) November 8, 2017
First...shame on your agent.
— Kristopher R (@cheesehead1976) November 8, 2017
Second...is Segal ANYbody's type?
Did you fire your agent?
— Steve Saideman (@smsaideman) November 8, 2017
You need to call out the agent for their complicity; she sent you there knowing what would happen.
— Josephine C (@JosephineCActs) November 8, 2017
Ellen DeGeneres, De Rossi’s wife, had a simple response to her revelation:
I’m proud of my wife. https://t.co/NABbOJoBrf
— Ellen DeGeneres (@TheEllenShow) November 9, 2017
Last week, Margulies told Sirius XM’s “Just Jenny” show that Seagal also took her to a hotel room on the pretext of business. She was 23 when a female casting director asked her to go to his hotel at 10 p.m. to vie for a role. She was hesitant because she didn’t do that and she didn’t have money for a cab. She was promised to be reimbursed for her travel expense so she went.
“I got to the hotel at 10:40, and she wasn’t there. And he was. Alone,” she recounted, adding that he made sure she saw his gun during the encounter. She somehow got out of the room “unscathed.”
“I was never raped. And I was never harmed. And I don’t know how I got out of that hotel room,” she said, adding she “sorta screamed my way out.”
It was unfortunately not the last time Margulies was put in a scary situation with a man in power. A few years later, she was invited to have a meeting with the now-disgraced Harvey Weinstein in his hotel room to discuss business. She insisted that his female assistant join them in the room. She could tell he was not happy with their companion. Needless to say, she did not get the part.
Last month, journalist Lisa Guerrero said Seagal also tried the same tactic on her. Good thing that she was with another female who insisted that she stay with her when Segal answered his door in his bathroom. She told the Hollywood Reporter that she was cut off from a role in his movie when she refused to see him again, this time alone.
