James Franco has admitted it was ‘hurtful’ Seth Rogen said he had ‘no plans to work with him in the future’ after his sexual misconduct accusations came to light.
During a very candid conversation, the actor, 43, said he has spoken out now as he ‘doesn’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for him anymore’.
Speaking on the SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Podcast, James said he ‘absolutely loves Seth’ who he worked with on films such as Pineapple Express, This is The End and The Interview.
Upset: James Franco has admitted it was ‘hurtful’ Seth Rogen said he had ‘no plans to work with him in the future’ after his sexual misconduct accusations came to light (pictured in 2014)
In January of 2018, five women told the Los Angeles Times that Franco had been sexually inappropriate or exploitative with them. One detailed how Franco removed plastic guards from actress’ vulvas during a sex scene while simulating oral sex.
Two of the women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, sued Franco in 2019, claimed that he tried to ‘create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education’ while they attended his Studio 4 acting school.
Franco settled for $2.2 million in July.
Initially, when the allegations came out in 2018, Rogen told Vulture that he would continue to work with Franco.
Hard: During a candid conversation, the actor, 43, said he has spoken out now as he ‘doesn’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for him anymore’ (pictured in 2017)
But in May, he publicly revised his position, telling Britain’s Sunday Times that he would not.
‘I also look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now,’ he said.
Speaking on the podcast this week, Franco said he ‘absolutely loves’ Rogen, whom he worked with for 20 years — but ‘what he said is true, you know, we aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together.’
‘Of course it was hurtful, you know, in context, but I get it, you know, he had to answer for me cause I was silent,’ he went on.
Longtime: Speaking on the SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Podcast, James said he ‘absolutely loves Seth’ who he worked with on films such as Pineapple Express, This is The End (pictured in) and The Interview
‘He had to answer for me and I don’t want that. And so that’s why, it’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today is I just, I don’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for me anymore.’
Elsewhere in the interview James revealed he slept with students at his acting school and felt ‘blind to power dynamics’ because they were ‘consenting adults’.
He spoke about his relationships with students and how he ‘cheated on everyone’ during a 20-year struggle with sex addiction, four years after he was accused of sexual misconduct.
Speaking on the podcast about his experience, James said that while teaching, he ‘did sleep with students, and that was wrong’.
Throwback: The men got to know each other as co-stars on TV’s Freaks and Geeks (pictured) and went on to make eight films together
He said: ‘I [was] completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that, but also completely blind to people’s feelings,’
James confirmed that while he did sleep with students at his acting school he thought it was ‘cool’ because it was ‘consensual’ and they were all adults.’
During the discussion, James opened up about how he struggled to stay faithful to anyone and cheated on all of his past girlfriends.
He said: ‘I had girlfriends. I could never be faithful to anybody. I cheated on everyone before Isabel.’
Oh dear: In May, Rogen said he has not worked with Franco recently has does not have a plan to do so right now
Franco cited his 20-year battle with sex addiction as the main reason for his rampant adultery, an issue he’s been successfully battling for the past five years.
‘I was in recovery before, for substance abuse. And there were some issues that I had to deal with that were also related to addiction.
‘And so I’ve really used my recovery background to kind of start examining this and changing who I was,’ explained James.
He admitted that he also didn’t think about the power dynamics at play when he pursued people he worked with, or those who attended his acting school.
‘I [was] completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that, but also completely blind to people’s feelings. I didn’t wanna hurt people,’ he said.
‘I’ll admit, I did sleep with students,’ he said. ‘Over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students. And that was wrong.
‘But, like I said, it’s not why I started the school. And I wasn’t the person who selected the people to be in the class. So it wasn’t a master plan on my part, but yes, there were certain instances where, you know what, I was in a consensual thing with a student and I shouldn’t have been.
‘I suppose at the time my thing was, if it’s consensual, OK. Of course I knew, I talked to other people, other teachers, yeah, it’s probably not a cool thing. [But] at the time, I was not as clear-headed as I’ve said. So I guess it just comes down to my criteria: If this is consensual, it’s cool. We’re all adults,’ he said.
Confession: Elsewhere in the interview James revealed he slept with students at his acting school and felt ‘blind to power dynamics’ because they were ‘consenting adults’
When Franco was a teenager he said he was ‘addicted to alcohol’ and ‘got sober when [he] was 17,’ but his addictive behaviors would, eventually, flood into other elements of his life.
‘Once I couldn’t use alcohol to fill that hole, it was like, ‘Oh, success, attention, this is great.’ I got addicted to validation or success or whatever that is.
‘Along the road of trying to get success and climb the top of that mountain, attention from women, success with women also became a huge source of validation for me. The problem with that is, as I’m sure you can guess, is that there’s never enough.
‘I’m just trying to fill that hole and it never gets filled,’ he explained.
He described sex as ‘such a powerful drug’ and he, unfortunately, ‘got hooked on it for 20 more years.’
James continued: ‘And the insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time. So, and I went to meetings all that time. I even tried to sponsor other people.
‘And so in my head, it was like, ‘Oh, I’m sober. I’m living a spiritual life.’ Where on the side, I’m acting out now in all these other ways. And I couldn’t see it.’
JAMES FRANCO SAYS HE IS NOT DENYING SEXUAL MISCONDUCT ALLEGATIONS TO HELP WOMEN
James Franco spoke about the allegations being amde against him on Late Night With Seth Meyers on Wednesday (above)
Seth Meyers: I’m very glad you’re here. I want to talk about The Disaster Artist, which I loved, and want to get to the Golden Globes, but one of the things that happened at the Golden Globes – and obviously, this happened in the last couple of days before we had you booked on the show and I’m glad you’re still here. You were wearing a time’s up button like a lot of guys at the show and some women during your time on stage said that was hypocritical, they went to Twitter and said that it was hypocritical based on their experiences that they have had with you. They made some allegations. I wonder if you have read those tweets, and if so, how you respond to them?
James Franco: Yes. I was sent a couple of the tweets, so yeah, I did read them. I haven’t responded. I think, well the ones I read were not accurate, but one of the things that I’ve learned is that this is a conversation that obviously needs to be had. There are people, women and others who have not been a part of this conversation and I truly believe and why I was wearing the pin is that they need to be a part of this conversation and so I support that.
Seth: Ally Sheedy also had a tweet. She has since took it down. I heard you mention last night on Stephen Colbert’s show that you had directed her in a play. You’ve had a good experience with her. Have you reached out to her as someone, and, are you not curious as to why she would do that if you had, from your perspective, a good relationship with her?
James: Yes, I had a great relationship with her. She took the tweet down, I don’t know. I really don’t
Seth: Not curious enough though to reach out to her as someone that you’ve had a good relationship with before and to try to understand why she would have done that?
James: I don’t know. I – it was so shocking. I don’t know. I just – I guess I’m just letting it be.
Seth: The last thing I’ll say, or ask about this I should say, this moment, you know, I think this is an exciting time because it’s allowing us all remember, especially as men, that there were other people in different perspectives for things that we experienced. Does this Times Up movement and this moment we’re having right now, does it make you look back at all and question any of your behavior in the past based on this new perspective we’re getting on how women have perceived things for so long?
James: I think what I really learned and being here and this week and that show that we were you know … I mean it was so powerful in there.
Seth: That we heard some amazing things from some amazing women.
James: Like I said, there are stories that need to get out. There are people that need to be heard. I have my own side of this story, but I believe in, you know, these people that have been underrepresented getting their stories out enough that I will, you know, hold back things that I could say just because I believe in it that much. And if I have to take a knock because I’m not going to, you know, try and, you know, actively refute things, then I will, because I believe in it that much.
Source: Late Night With Seth Meyers