Coming off a wave of middling press for his appearance in the Sex and the City reboot And Just Like That, Chris Noth has been accused of sexual assault by two separate women. The Hollywood Reporter published a story today in which these women, who were given pseudonyms, allege that Noth raped them in encounters in 2004 and 2015. Noth denied the accusations in a statement that makes less and less sense the more you read it.
“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false,” he said. “These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”
The accusations are horrendous and disturbing. One woman, “Zoe,” told THR that Noth raped her in 2004, when she was 22, after he got her number from the Hollywood firm where she worked an entry-level job. “My boss was like, ‘Mr. Big’s leaving messages on your voicemail,'” she recalled.
She said the assault happened at his West Hollywood apartment building, where Noth had invited her and her friend to use the pool. According to Zoe, Noth asked her to return a book to his apartment and kissed her when she entered the room. She said she was going to return to her friend, but Noth pulled her into the apartment, took off her shorts and bikini bottom, and “began to rape her from behind.”
“It was very painful and I yelled out, ‘Stop!’” she said. “And he didn’t. I said, ‘Can you at least get a condom?’ and he laughed at me.”
Afterwards, she said, “I realized there was blood on my shirt. I got out of there.” Her friend took her to the hospital, where she required “two stitches.” At the time, she did not name her assailant.
Another woman, “Lily,” said Noth sexaully assaulted her in 2015, when she was 25 and he was 60. He met her when she was a server at a now-closed New York nightclub. “He was hitting on me, for sure,” she said. “I was flattered. I knew he was married, which is shameful of me to admit.” (Noth has been married since 2012.)
Lily told THR that Noth invited her to dinner at Il Cantinori, a restaurant featured in Sex and the City, but the kitchen was closed when she arrived at the appointed time. They drank wine, she said, and then Noth invited her back to his West Village apartment for whiskey.
When they arrived, she said Noth kissed her, and she reminded him that he was married, to which he said, “Marriage is a sham. Monogamy is not real.” And then, “He was having sex with me from the back in a chair,” she said. “We were in front of a mirror. I was kind of crying as it happened.” The experience made her feel “totally violated,” she said.
Both women, who do not know each other, told THR they decided to come forward after promotions for And Just Like That reminded them, painfully, of their encounters with Noth.
