Brendan Fraser has alleged in a new interview that he was groped by a former President of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.
The actor, who has notably starred in The Mummy trilogy as well as the likes of Crash and Bedazzled, made the claim in a new GQ profile which investigates why Fraser stopped acting for a number of years.
At one point in the interview, Fraser admitted that his absence from the big screen was part-inspired by an alleged encounter he had with Philip Berk – who the actor claims sexually assaulted him while leaving a HFPA-hosted luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel in 2003.
Alleging that what Berk did to him was ‘more than a pinch’ – Berk recounted the alleged encounter in his memoir, saying it was “in jest” – Fraser recalled: “His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around.”
“I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.” Fraser revealed that he told his wife at the time about the incident, but chose not to go public with the allegation.
Berk told GQ that Fraser’s allegation was “a total fabrication”, adding that he wrote to the actor after Fraser’s representatives asked him to apologise. “My apology admitted no wrongdoing,” Berk said. “The usual ‘If I’ve done anything that upset Mr. Fraser, it was not intended and I apologise.'”
Fraser said he was inspired to tell his story following the recent emergence of the Time’s Up movement.
“Am I still frightened? Absolutely. Do I feel like I need to say something? Absolutely. Have I wanted to many, many times? Absolutely. Have I stopped myself? Absolutely.”