For the first time in nearly four years, James Franco agreed to a candid interview in which he addressed not just the sexual misconduct claims leveled against him in 2018, but also his addiction to drink and sex.
The actor, 43, discussed how he's evolved and what he's learnt about himself with Jess Cagle on his Sirius XM radio show.
"In 2018, there were some complaints about me and an article about me and, at that moment I just thought 'I'm gonna be quiet. I'm gonna be, I'm gonna pause.' Did not seem like the right time to say anything. There were people that were upset with me and I needed to listen. There's a writer Damon Young and he talked about when something like this happens, the natural human instinct is to just make it stop. You just want to get out in front of it and whatever you have to do apologize, you know, get it done. But what that doesn't do is allow you to do the work to, and to look at what was underneath." Franco said.
In a January 2018 report published by The Los Angeles Times, five women accused Franco of sexually improper behavior. Four of the women who spoke out were students at Franco's acting school, Playhouse West Studio 4. Franco founded it in 2014, and company ceased operations in 2017.
One of the women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan, subsequently said on "Good Morning America" that Franco exploited his popularity by "exploiting the non-famous women he dealt with under the pretext of providing them chances."
In October 2019, Tither-Kaplan and another student, Toni Gaal, filed a sexual misconduct case against Franco and the institution. According to their lawsuit, Franco forced his students to act in increasingly graphic sex acts on camera in a "orgy type atmosphere" that went well beyond what was permissible on Hollywood film sets.
It said Franco "sought to build a pipeline of young women who were exposed to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education," and that pupils were persuaded to think that parts in Franco's films would be available to those who cooperated.
Franco paid $2,235,000 to resolve a sexual misconduct claim in June 2021.
Franco stated he's been in six addiction rehab since 2016, but he revealed to Cagle, "I did sleep with students."
"I slept with students during my teaching career, which was wrong. But, as I previously stated, it is not why I founded the school, and I was not the one who chose the students for the class. So there was no'master plan' on my behalf. But, you know what, there were times when I was in a consensual relationship with a student that I shouldn't have been."
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