Sex And The City actor Chris Noth has vehemently denied sexually assaulting two women.
The 67-year-old, who returned to screens this month in HBO Max’s SATC spin-off And Just Like That, is accused of sexually assaulting one woman in 2004 and the other in 2015.
In a statement shared with Metro.co.uk, Noth denied the allegations stating: ‘The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false.
‘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.’
He added: ‘I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.’
The two women spoke to The Hollywood Reporter using pseudonyms to protect their identities.
Zoe, now 40, was aged 22 when she began working at a top firm in Los Angeles where clients included high-profile celebrities.
Noth, who was 49 at the time, was reportedly one of the clients and would allegedly ‘flirt’ with Zoe at her desk. She claims he obtained her phone number from the company directory and left voicemails on her phone. Zoe told her boss about the ‘flirty’ voice messages but admitted she didn’t find it alarming as it was a ‘peak Sex And The City’ era and Noth was ‘like a god to us’.
Zoe alleges that Noth invited her to his apartment in a West Hollywood building where a friend of hers also lived. The two were hanging out by the pool at the complex when Noth said he had to take a phone call in his apartment, leaving a book with Zoe.
When she went to his apartment to return the book, Noth allegedly pulled her in for a kiss which she reciprocated. However, she told him: ‘Thank you, I’m going back to my friend.’
She then became alarmed when the TV star allegedly moved her toward the bed, pulled off her shorts and began to rape her.
Once it was over, Zoe said she realised there was blood on her shirt and went to her friend’s apartment in the same building. The friend repeatedly asked what had happened but Zoe didn’t tell her about the alleged ordeal.
However, the concerned friend took Zoe to Cedars Sinai Hospital where she told staff she had been sexually assaulted. She claims that she was given two stitches and spoke to police officers but didn’t reveal Noth’s identity as she was worried they wouldn’t believe her or that she would have been fired.
Zoe, who did allege to her boss that Noth assaulted her, said she began to experience nightmares and flashbacks after the incident. She sought counseling at the UCLA Rape Crisis Center in January 2006.
The second accuser, Lily (again a pseudonym), was a server in the VIP section of former New York nightclub No.8 in 2015 when she allegedly met Noth.
‘I was truly star-struck. He was hitting on me, for sure. I was flattered. I knew he was married, which is shameful of me to admit,’ she told the publication.
Lily, who was 25 at the time and Noth 60, recalled the actor asking her to dinner at Il Cantinori which featured in an episode of SATC.
A friend of Lily advised her not to go because she ‘didn’t have a great feeling about it’, but the waitress went ahead.
As the evening progressed, Lily said she began to feel increasingly drunk but wasn’t close to blacking out. Noth allegedly invited her to his Greenwich Village apartment to sample his collection of whiskeys.
Lily said: ‘I was not super sexually active, not wild and crazy. I thought, “We’re going to drink whiskey and talk about his acting career”. It sounds so stupid.’
She alleged he tried to kiss her which she ‘cautiously entertained’, but he became increasingly persistent.
‘He kept trying and trying and trying, and I should have said no more firmly and left,’ she said.
After leaving his apartment, Lily told her friend he had ‘forcibly’ had sex with her but she refused to go to the police.
Lily claimed Noth left her voice messages after the alleged incident, including one which said: ‘I had a nice time and would really appreciate it if you wouldn’t talk to your girlfriends. If we could keep this between you and me, that would be great.’
THR obtained one text message exchange between them, with one from Noth reading: ‘By the way I have to ask did you enjoy our night last week. I thought it was a lot of fun but I wasn’t quite sure how you felt.’
Lily replied: ‘Hmm…I certainly enjoyed your company. Great conversation. Not to go into specifics over text message, but I did feel slightly used… Perhaps this is better as a phone conversation but I can’t talk at the moment.’
She says that she brushed off the actor’s suggestions of meeting for dinner or drinks again and cancelled on one occasion. They never met each other again.
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