Earlier this month, Ryan Seacrest penned an open letter about being wrongfully accused of sexual harassment.
The US TV host said that last November, he had received a letter from a lawyer representing a woman who had worked as his stylist over a decade ago that alleged sexual misconduct.
He denied the allegation and said that after a three-month-long third-party investigation and internal enquiry, he had been exonerated - which is when he wrote the letter.
However, Variety has now published a detailed account of the aforementioned stylist's experience and it makes for harrowing reading.
Mother-of-one Suzie Hardy first began working with Seacrest in 2007 for his E! News role. She alleges that Seacrest both physically assaulted her at various points over the years - including unwanted groping of her genitals, rubbing his erection on her while dressed only in his underwear and slapping her buttock so hard that it left a visible welt - as well as inappropriate verbal behaviour.
“I didn’t know how to deal with it,” she said. “I really didn’t. I was battling finally being in a decent financial position to breathe and be a mom, that I didn’t have to be freaking out all the time, and then dealing with this infantile celebrity person who was testing me on every level and manipulating me and knew that I was in a vulnerable position.”
She says that in 2013 - after years of fearing that she would lose her job if she reported Seacrest - HR 'sought her out' and asked her about his behaviour. Two weeks later, she was told that her contract with E! News was being ended.
Seacrest has not commented on the Variety article, but the full report can be read here.
