Why Charlize Theron hasn’t named director she accused of sexual harassment

Charlize Theron explains her personal decision to not explicitly name the director she accused of sexual harassment.

The Academy Award winner appeared on the latest episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast and spoke about coming forward with the allegations in 2019, claiming that the unnamed director had sent her a “panicked” letter not long after.

“This guy, he got a little nervous for a while there. I’ve never said his name because honestly, I don’t want the story to be about him,” Theron said. “Not because I’m protecting him or anything. But he got nervous for a little bit. Because he heard me tell the story and he knew it was about him and he wrote me a pretend letter trying to explain his behavior and how I must have misunderstood it.”

“Which is classic, isn’t it?” the actress quipped. “It’s so classic. I think he panicked, started panicking . . . and I just realized like, I won’t even say your name because you’re the scumbag.”

And while Theron won’t publicly name the director, “If anybody ever asks me about him, I would be completely honest,” she continued. “And he knows that. And I kind of like that he’s gotta be on a hot seat. He doesn’t know when it’s gonna come. I kind of like that a little more.”

Theron previously accused a “very famous director” of sexually harassing her during the early days of her career her while she was doing press for her 2019 film Bombshell, based on the real life women who accused former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes of sexual harassment. She recounted allegedly visiting the director at his home on a Saturday night in 1994 to audition for a role, only for him to greet her in silk pajamas and rub her legs. Theron said she left the home in a hurry.

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The star recalled being “so mad at myself” after what transpired, sharing with Cooper that those feelings still haven’t gone away after all these years. “I remember being furious with myself because I couldn’t believe how I had let myself down,” Theron recounted. “I was like, “What the f—? Who the f— are you? I still get those feelings, you know?”

“Because it’s like, you know yourself so well, and there’s something that really breaks my heart to when people in this very luxurious manner talk about ‘Well, you know what, next time you should f—ing say something. Don’t wait 20 years,'” Theron said. “That’s really what it boils down to. Instead of saying, ‘I don’t believe you,’ it’s, ‘don’t be a f—ing pussy. Like maybe you shouldn’t have been a pussy about it.’ And we all know what that feels like. It feels like no matter what they say, it can’t hurt more than what you’re telling yourself.”

Cooper also recently came forward with allegations of sexual harassment against her former college soccer coach, sharing in her Hulu docuseries Call Her Alex that she was afraid she would lose her full-tuition scholarship if she spoke out at the time. “We need to tell these stories so that we can understand that we’re not alone,” Theron told the host.