‘One Tree Hill’ and ‘Royals’ Showrunner Accused of Sexual Harassment
The showrunner behind One Tree Hill and The Royals has been accused of sexual harassment on set by former cast and crew.
On Saturday (November 11), One Tree Hill writer Audrey Wauchope tweeted out a story across a number of posts in which she recalled how she and a writing partner were subjected to inappropriate touching while on the set of the show, and while she never explicitly named Mark Schwahn, she wordlessly pointed to him.
"Female writers would try to get the spot where the showrunner wouldn't sit as to not be touched. Often men would help out by sitting next to him, thus protecting the women," Wauchope wrote. "Sometimes we wouldn't luck out and he'd just squeeze his disgusting body in between us and put his arms around us, grinning. He pet hair. He massaged shoulders. I know he did more but not to me so they're not my stories to share."
Then, in an act of solidarity, former stars Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz penned a joint statement corroborating Wauchope's claims, and insisting many women around set were often forced into similar situations, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress," they wrote. "Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be."
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