Three more women have come forward with allegations that actor Jeremy Piven made unwanted sexual advances toward them – making it a total of eight women who accused the former Entourage star of inappropriate behavior.
The three women – two of whom went on the record and one who chose to remain anonymous – told BuzzFeed News that Piven became physically aggressive with each of them during separate encounters in the 1980s and 90s.
One woman said that Piven was 21 years and she was 17 when he became physical with her in a trailer on the set of his first-ever movie role in 1986.
The news site reported that eight different people said they heard of the incidents from the women who shared it shortly after they took place or in the years since.
Piven vehemently denied all of the allegations, which his attorneys describe as ‘works of fiction.’
Three more women have come forward with allegations that actor Jeremy Piven made unwanted sexual advances toward them – making it a total of eight women who accused the former Entourage star of inappropriate behavior
Piven’s lawyers are saying that the accusations are ‘conjured up in an opportunistic effort to capitalize on the current media storm in order to obtain attention and/or money.’
The attorneys for Piven say that the actor provided BuzzFeed with the results of a lie detector test that he says he passed, proving that he never groped women or used force against women to gain sexual pleasure.
‘These allegations, which in one case goes back more than 30 years and the two others more than 20 years ago, are false,’ Piven said in a written statement given to BuzzFeed News.
‘As evidenced by the lie detector test I took and passed, I have never forced myself on anyone, nor have I ever exposed myself or restrained anyone against their will.
One of his accusers, Susan McCain Olson, who had just finished her junior year of high school in the Chicago area, was an extra in Lucas, the 1986 film which was Piven’s first ever movie role
‘To the contrary, if any woman ever said no, I stopped.’
The actor’s lawyers even threatened to sue BuzzFeed News – the second time they have issued a threat of litigation in response to a story about Piven’s alleged sexual misconduct.
Susan McCain Olson, who had just finished her junior year of high school in the Chicago area, was an extra in a film that was Piven’s first ever movie role.
He was just 21 years old when he was cast for a role in Lucas, the 1986 film which starred Charlie Sheen, Winona Ryder, Kerri Green, and Corey Haim.
McCain Olson, 51, told BuzzFeed News that she had a number of scenes in the film and that the environment on set was casual and friendly.
During filming, McCain Olson said she was asked to go into a trailer to retrieve something, which was ‘not an unusual thing to happen.’
He was just 17 years old when he was cast for a role in Lucas, the 1986 film which starred Charlie Sheen (far left), Winona Ryder (right), Kerri Green (middle), and Corey Haim. McCain Olson alleges that Piven followed her into a trailer and forced himself on her
McCain Olson said that Piven followed her into the trailer. She alleged that he then pinned her down on the sofa, climbed on top of her, and started to kiss her.
Piven is also alleged to have run his hands up and down her body and inside her shirt.
‘At one point I kind of was like, “This is it, this is where I’m going to get raped”,’ McCain Olson said.
‘I kept trying to push him away. I was like, “No, get off me”.’
McCain Olson said she managed to nudge Piven off of her and get away.
She said she feared telling others because she thought it might cost her job as an extra.
Piven also did not approach her for the remainder of their time together on set.
‘I saw him around after because we were on the same set but he never spoke to me,’ she said.
BuzzFeed News said it spoke to four people close to McCain Olson who said that they heard the same story from her in the years after it allegedly happened.
She said she chose not to go public since the culture surrounding sexual harassment was different in those days than it is now.
‘In those days, sexual assault was rape and I was like, “Well, he didn’t rape me”,’ McCain Olson said.
‘I didn’t talk much about it at all just because I guess it was embarrassing. Who was going to believe me?’
An anonymous woman alleges that while Piven was in Montreal filming Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde in or around 1994, he pinned her against the wall in his hotel room and tried to kiss her, but that she rejected his advances. Piven is seen above in the film alongside co-star Sean Young
BuzzFeed News also spoke to another woman, a 46-year-old executive at a major international organization, about an encounter she says she had with Piven in Montreal in or around 1994.
Piven was in Montreal to film Dr. Jekyll and Ms. Hyde, a movie which was released in 1995.
The accuser says she met the actor at a hair salon where she was working at the time.
She told BuzzFeed News that she agreed to show Piven around town, though she says she made it clear to him that she had no romantic interest in the actor.
When she went to meet Piven at his hotel, the front desk told her that he wasn’t ready and that she should go up to his room.
She said she went up to the room because she had no reason to suspect Piven, who was a ‘nice enough guy.’
When she entered Piven’s room, the actor pinned her against the wall and tried to kiss her, she alleged.
She said she pushed him off of her and asked him what he was doing.
He then replied by asking her why she came up to his room.
At that point, she said she left.
“I didn’t want to stick around to find out what else was going to happen,” the woman said.
‘I guess he thinks he’s this actor and he can do whatever the hell he wants to people.
‘As a woman … you deal with this kind of thing all the time. But this was a little more violent than the other things that have happened to me.
‘To have somebody force themselves on you like that — it made me feel very uncomfortable and grossed out.’
In the mid-1990s, Piven landed a recurring role on the hit ABC sitcom Ellen. Diane Gonzalez, an extra on the set of Ellen, alleges that Piven became increasingly violent during a romantic encounter that she abruptly ended. Piven (far right) is seen with the cast of Ellen in 1995
Gonzalez alleged that the incident took place after a night out of drinks with cast and crew. Piven is seen above with co-star Ellen Degeneres in this 1995 image
She said she decided to come forward after reading Piven’s denials of sexual misconduct against other women.
‘I was like, “you would never force yourself on a woman?” Yes, you would, because you did that to me,’ she said.
Piven, for his part, denied ever meeting a woman at a salon in Montreal.
BuzzFeed News spoke to two people who said the woman told them about the alleged incident.
By 1996, Piven had a recurring role on the hit ABC sitcom Ellen.
In February of that year, Diane Gonzalez was hired as an extra on the set, where she met Piven.
The two became involved in a consensual romantic encounter.
But Gonzalez said that things turned physically aggressive and left her feeling threatened.
After one night of taping, the cast and crew went out for drinks. Piven invited Gonzalez to join.
After the gathering ended, Piven asked Gonzalez to follow him to his house.
He escorted Gonzalez to her car. As the two were on a sidewalk outside, Piven started to kiss her, she said.
“I was taken aback, but I kind of just went with it,” she said.
Anastasia Taneie says Piven invited her to talk with him and his manager, then pushed her against a wall and groped her breasts and genitals while on the set of HBO’s Entourage
At Piven’s home, the actor gave Gonzalez a tour. As she looked at pictures of Piven on his refrigerator, she turned around and saw him.
Piven, at this point, is alleged to have pulled down his pants and exposed his genitals to her.
‘I really was surprised … I guess I was naive and I just didn’t have sex on the brain,’ Gonzalez said.
‘I kind of just laughed it off … and then quickly thought, “What am I doing? This could go really wrong. So, just kind of play it cool”.’
Gonzalez alleged that Piven grabbed her and started to kiss her.
He then allegedly picked her up, wrapped her legs around his waist, and took her into the bedroom.
Gonzalez alleged that when they got to the bedroom, Piven threw her onto his bed and straddled himself on top of her.
She claimed that Piven pinned her arms behind her head and kissed her.
Piven escalated matters and kept using more force, Gonzalez alleged.
She said this made her uncomfortable and she told Piven she wanted to go home.
‘The kissing was very intense and at this point his penis is still exposed, so that’s when I … [thought], “No, no, this isn’t right”,’ Gonzalez said.
‘I was just starting to get very cautious to how I was going to react to this.
‘What I was saying out loud was, “I think it’s time for me to go. I should go now”,’ she said.
‘I think the threat was just how aggressive and how strong he became as he was holding me down. I just didn’t want it to get any worse,’ Gonzalez said.
‘I just kept telling myself, “Well, you’re alone, nobody knows where I’m at.”
‘It’s not like I told anybody I’m going to follow him home, so I kept telling myself, “Okay, you gotta play this smart now”.’
Gonzalez said that Piven also tried to unbutton her pants, but she managed to get away.
‘I was trying to be somewhat playful and not freak out because I was alone, of course, and I was just surprised at how quickly things were advancing,’ Gonzalez said.
‘So I kept saying, “Okay, you know what, I think I need to go, it’s best that I leave”. But he kept resisting.’
Piven (right, with the cast of Entourage) denies the claim, which has been supported by Taneie’s mom and others who were on the set at the time
She said she purposefully fell off the bed in order to get away from Piven. She then told the actor that she ‘really needed to go.’
Piven reacted angrily, she said. He then told her to leave and ‘belittled’ her.
‘I’m just thankful I kind of got out there when I did,’ she said.
Two friends of Gonzalez told BuzzFeed News that they heard the story of the alleged encounter with Piven.
Gonzalez said that in retrospect she became more convinced that she was the victim of an alleged assault.
‘The way I explained it at the time was like, “Oh, things got a little out of control”.
‘But now as an older person looking back, that could’ve been really bad.
‘I just want him to be accountable for what he did.’
‘Any interaction that may have occurred between [Piven and Gonzalez], if any, was a consensual encounter,’ the actor’s attorneys said.
Piven also addressed the allegations, writing in a statement: ‘Some of the assertions, as related to be by BuzzFeed, are not even physically possible.
‘As one example, there is a claim that I grabbed the woman, started to kiss her, picked her up, and wrapped her legs around my waist.
Actress Ariane Bellamar, (left) 38, last month accused the actor of groping her breasts. Porn star Isis Taylor (right) is among other women who claimed Piven harassed her
‘It is hard to understand how someone could hold a woman and at the same time wrap both of her legs around his waist without the consent of the woman.’
Last year, a total of five other women accused Piven of sexual impropriety.
Anastasia Taneie told BuzzFeed News she was working as a 23-year-old background actress on Entourage in 2009 when Piven, then 44, cornered her in a darkened corridor and groped her breasts and genitals.
‘I was scared at the time nobody was going to believe me. I didn’t want to make a scene. I just wanted to go home,’ she said this past November.
‘It was the most horrible thing I’ve ever experienced.’
Piven denied the accusations and pointed to a lie detector test from November 13 which found him innocent of groping anyone after four other women including actress Ariane Bellamar accused him.
In October, Bellamar accused Piven of groping her twice, once in his trailer on the Entourage set and the other at the Playboy mansion.
Advertising executive Tiffany Bacon Scourby (left) says Piven attacked her in 2003 in his hotel room and actress Cassidy Freeman (right) also accused him of engaging in ‘predatory behavior’ against her when she was ‘far too young’
Piven was accused on Twitter of sexual harassment and assault by 38-year-old Bellamar at the end of October.
She was followed by actress Cassidy Freeman who said on her Instagram page that Piven engaged in ‘predatory behavior’ against her when she was ‘far too young.’
More women have since come forward accusing the Emmy winning actor of sexual assault and harassment.
Washington-based advertising executive Tiffany Bacon Scourby, 39, and Hawaii-based porn star Isis Taylor both say Piven attacked or harassed them.
Piven has denied all allegations of sexual assault saying they ‘are absolutely false and completely fabricated.’