Jessica Barth has revived accusations she made to the police in 2012 that her then-manager, David Guillod, drugged her at dinner and sexually assaulted her.
The Ted actress, who says the threat of a lawsuit kept her from pursuing the case five years ago, told The Wrap she now wants to press charges after another woman told her the same thing had happened to her.
“Nothing was found to be unfounded. I just stopped pursuing it because he threatened to sue me. I wasn’t in a place emotionally or financially to take him on legally,” she said.
“I want to prosecute him. I want to do whatever is in my power to make sure this never happens to another woman.”
Barth detailed the dinner – without naming Guillod – in a recent blog post, recalling how after second dinner with her then-manager, she woke up covered in hickeys and with no recollection of the night before.
“The next thing I remember is waking up at home with six hickeys on my neck. I was horrified. I was completely and utterly confused and I was sick to my stomach. Through email, he tried to play it off as a silly make-out session between friends. He sent me message after message begging that we talk and letting me know how upset he was and that he couldn’t sleep because of the pit in his stomach.”
She had been reluctant to even go to the dinner, having felt uncomfortable at the first one where she’d had to repeatedly refuse the wait staff who were “refilling our wine glasses at a furious pace.”
Guillod, who was an executive producer on recent film Atomic Blonde, denies the allegations. His lawyer telling The Wrap: “This allegation was initially made five years ago and was fully investigated by LAPD at that time. Witnesses were interviewed whose version of events belied and completely contradicted Ms. Barth’s and LAPD determined the charges to be unfounded. No criminal or civil case was ever brought against Mr. Guillod.”
Barth wants to press charges after another woman emailed her detailing a similar incident with Guillod. The actress has started a new campaign called ‘Who Is Your Harvey‘, offering to put survivors with the same assailant in contact with one another.
One woman recognised Guillod in Barth’s post, despite the fact that she did not name him.
“She titled the email with his name. I immediately had shivers from head to toe,” Barth said. “The woman said that she had a similar experience, which was horrific. … She said it was about three years ago.”
Recently, Guillod spoke out about her run-in with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, detailing how he tried to force her to trade sexual favours for career gains.
At the time, she confided in her friend Seth MacFarlane, who later joked at the 2013 Oscars: “Congratulations, you five ladies no longer have to pretend to be attracted to Harvey Weinstein.”
After the allegations about Weinstein broke, MacFarlane clarified that his ‘joke’ was a direct jab at Weinstein’s behaviour, and not some mere coincidence.
If you would like to reach out for help or advice in dealing with sexual assault, please call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732.
