Third woman accuses 'Sex and the City' star Chris Noth of sexual assault – USA TODAY
A third woman is accusing actor Chris Noth of sexual assault, following claims by two others earlier this week.
Noth, best known for his role as Mr. Big in HBO’s “Sex and The City” and the beloved show’s new reboot “And Just Like That…” has denied accusations of sexual assault.
The latest accuser, a 30-year-old tech executive, said the alleged encounter happened in 2010, when she was working as a hostess and lounge singer at the Manhattan restaurant, Da Marino. She was 18 at the time and Noth was 55.
The account in the Daily Beast from Ava, who was granted a pseudonym, details an encounter with Noth in the back office of the restaurant as she prepared her late-night exit after work. Ava provided her story to the Daily Beast on Thursday and said she wrote her account of the assault in October 2020.
In a report published Thursday in The Hollywood Reporter, two women named only by pseudonyms, Lily and Zoe, accused Noth, 67, of sexual assault in separate incidents from the early 2000s.
“The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false,” Noth said in a statement to USA TODAY. “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.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Noth’s representative for further comment.
On Sunday, A3 Artists Agency confirmed to USA TODAY that Noth has been dropped as a client; he signed with the talent agency in October.
Zoe, who reached out to THR in October, told the outlet she met the actor in 2004 when she was 22 and working at a “high-profile firm where Noth and other celebrities regularly had business,” THR reported. She said he flirted with her and eventually invited her to the pool of a West Hollywood building before asking her to come to his apartment, where she said he raped her.
Zoe said she went with a friend to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where she told staff she had been assaulted but would not tell the police who had assaulted her out of fear of retribution and not being believed.
Lily, whom THR said contacted the news outlet in August, said she met Noth in a New York City nightclub in 2005, when she was 25. She said he asked her to dinner before inviting her back to his apartment, where she “cautiously entertained” him kissing her but grew uncomfortable with his sexual advances and and was “kind of crying” as he had sex with her. Lily said she felt “totally violated” afterward and told a friend but refused to alert the police.
The Los Angeles Police Department checked into whether there was an open investigation involving Noth and found none, police Sgt. Hector Guzman said. The special victims bureau of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department also has no open investigation, sheriff’s Capt. Richard Ruiz said.
The allegations prompted a blunt online post from actor Zoe Lister-Jones, who worked with Noth when he starred on a “Law & Order” series and she was a guest star.
“Last week, my friend asked me how I felt about Mr. Big’s death on And Just Like That, and I said, honestly, I felt relieved,” she wrote on Instagram. “He asked why and I told him it was because I couldn’t separate the actor from the man, and the man is a sexual predator.”
Lister-Jones recalled how, during one take, he leaned in to sniff her neck and said, ”‘You smell good.’”
Noth dubbed the timing of the accusations questionable as the report was published a week after the premiere of the highly-anticipated “Sex and the City” reboot. “And Just Like That” shocked fans when it killed off Noth’s character with a post-Peloton ride heart attack that launched the actor back into the pop-cultural zeitgeist and landed him a quick-turn ad with the stationary bike company.
Peloton scrubbed the video ad from its social media platforms Thursday following the allegations.
Asked for comment, a Peloton spokesperson released a statement: “Every single sexual assault accusation must be taken seriously. We were unaware of these allegations when we featured Chris Noth in our response to HBO’s reboot. As we seek to learn more, we have stopped promoting this video and archived related social posts.”
USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for “And Just Like That…” for further comment.
‘He’s alive’: Peloton video shows Chris Noth rides on after shocking ‘And Just Like That …’
“Sex and the City” originally aired from 1998 to 2004. HBO announced earlier this year plans to reboot the show, which premiered Dec. 9 and continues to release new episodes weekly.
Since originally taking on the role of Mr. Big, the hotshot executive who serves as Carrie’s main love interest (and later, husband) throughout the series, Noth went on to roles in “Law & Order: Criminal Intent,” “The Good Wife” and reprised his Mr. Big role in the 2008 and 2010 “SATC” movies.
He currently appears in Queen Latifah’s CBS drama “The Equalizer,” in which he plays an old friend of Latifah’s character, who runs a private security company after years as a CIA director. CBS and Universal Television, which produces the series, declined comment.
Contributing: Melissa Ruggieri
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