Busy Philipps Says James Franco Assaulted Her On The Set Of 'Freaks And Geeks'
The show Freaks and Geeks was the launching point for a lot of Hollywood's biggest stars. That's where we were first introduced to people like Seth Rogen, Jason Segal, and Linda Cardellini.
While the series only lasted one season, it managed to be the stepping stone a lot of successful actors needed to get noticed. One of the stars of that show has gone on to have remarkably successful career, but apparently her time on set wasn't as magical as it may have seemed.
Busy Philipps played the rebellious and often misunderstood Kim Kelly. She was a new friend of Lindsay Weir (Cardellini) and was the girlfriend of James Franco's character Daniel Desario.
However, their characters weren't the only ones with a complicated relationship, as it turns out the actors themselves had a lot of issues.
Philipps has opened up about the problems they had on set, and claims that not only was Franco a "f*cking bully," but he actually took it as far as physically attacking her.
The two actors have since made up, but in her new memoir, Philipps tells the story of how Franco assaulted her.
Philipps wrote that while filming a scene where her character was required to nudge Franco on the chest, he apparently flipped out on her.
"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 says she talked it over with her co-star Cardellini, and then informed her manager of the assault.
Franco was instructed to apologize, but other than that, he was never punished.
She's spoken about the incident before, but brushed by it quickly. "When we were 19, we were on Freaks and Geeks and we really, really disliked each other. It’s well-documented," Philipps said on What What Happens Live with Andy Cohen. "He, like, shoved me to the ground once. It was really brutal. But we’re friends now and we really like each other now as adults."
Philipps' book is being released on October 16th, but this excerpt was leaked early. The book will go into the details of her life as a young woman growing up in Hollywood, including the story of her rape at 14 years old.
She has never spoken publicly about it, but on Instagram she revealed that she hadn't even told her family.
"This is me at 14. The age I was raped. It's taken me 25 years to say those words. I wrote about it in my book. I finally told my parents and sister about it 4 months ago," Philipps wrote in the comment of a school photo. "Today is the day we are silent no more. All of us. I'm scared to post this. I can't imagine what Dr. Ford is feeling right now."
Philipps will likely share a lot more stories in her book, and chances are there will be more details about her time on Freaks and Geeks.
Source - The Hollywood Reporter / UpRoxx