In her upcoming memoir, ‘This Will Only Hurt a Little’ (released on October 16), actor Busy Philipps alleges that James Franco shouted at her and pushed her to the ground on the set of cult TV series ‘Freaks and Geeks’ in 1999.
The excerpt of the novel detailing the incident was obtained by Yahoo Entertainment, and claims that it happened while the actors were filming a scene for the series.
As Philipps remembers, the scene required her character to gently hit Franco in his chest during their lines of dialogue. Franco was caught off guard as the directive was not included in the script, and subsequently broke character to yell at Philipps. She remembers everyone on set was horrified.
“He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’” she wrote. “And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me.”
Philipps also described Franco as being a “f***ing bully” throughout their ‘Freaks and Geeks’ experience.
After the assault, Philipps said she cried in front of fellow co-star Linda Cardellini, who advised her to report what happened to her manager. She chose not to as Franco apologized to her the following day, having been forced to do so by the show’s producers and director.
Philipps notes that Franco was never formally reprimanded for his actions and continued to work without consequence.
Earlier this year, a number of women accused Franco of various instances of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behaviour. He has maintained that these allegations are “not accurate”, although he will not “actively refute” them so their voices can be heard.
Philipps’ memoir also details an incident where she was raped at the age of 14, which she revealed on Instagram two weeks ago.
