‘Orange Is The New Black’s’ Yael Stone Publicly Accuses Geoffrey Rush Of Inappropriate Behavior

The star of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, Yael Stone, has come forth with allegations regarding inappropriate behavior towards her by fellow actor, Geoffrey Rush.

According to an interview Yael did with the New York Times, accusations have been made of inappropriate behavior. The interview was published on Sunday and in it, Stone stated that she has struggled with coming forward for some time now since, at the time, she didn’t speak out and tell Rush that his behavior towards her was inappropriate. She also felt that she had, at times, encouraged the behavior. In addition, Stone has stated that in the past she was fearful of “offending a mentor and friend.”

Initially, as Heavy points out, Stone had tried to contact Rush regarding his behavior via an email. When she didn’t receive a response from the actor, she decided to go public with her allegations.

Yael, an Australian actress, states that the inappropriate behavior occurred during the 2010 – 2011 Sydney production of The Diary of a Madman. Some of the behavior included Rush asking Stone to “perform tasks like removing his costume, danced naked in their dressing room, joined her uninvited as she napped, touched her in a ‘very sexual manner’ at an awards show and, in one incident, used a mirror to watch her shower,” according to Vulture.

Actor Geoffrey Rush faces fresh allegations of inappropriate behaviour by an actresshttps://t.co/6pAAWJZ7L4 pic.twitter.com/pJ1oF8G9sB

— AFP News Agency (@AFP) December 17, 2018

While Stone had considered alerting officials within the production at the time, she was concerned that nothing would be done since she was only a minor star at the time.

“There was no part of my brain considering speaking to anyone in any official capacity,” Stone told the New York Times.

“This was a huge star. What were they going to do? Fire Geoffrey and keep me?”

An interview with Yael regarding her allegations against Geoffrey Rush will air in Australia tonight at 7:30 pm (local time) on the 7:30 program on ABC Australia, according to a media release.

“Geoffrey was working within the boundaries of what he felt was playful,” Stone reveals in the upcoming interview.

“The fact of the matter is, the behavior was very inappropriate at times and did make me feel uncomfortable and compromised.”

She also goes on to talk about her decision to reveal these allegations.

“Whenever women particularly speak about issues like this their career generally suffers. I’ve factored that into my calculations and if that happens, I think it’s worth it. I have a very young baby girl and I want to say to her one day it was hard, but I did it anyway.”

This is not the first time accusations have been made against Geoffrey Rush. According to Vulture, Rush sued journalist Jonathan Moran for a report regarding alleged inappropriate behavior towards another female actress, this time during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015. As a result of this lawsuit, all articles pertaining to these accusations were later removed from the Daily Telegraph and its publisher, Rupert Murdoch’s Nationwide News.

Geoffrey Rush released a statement regarding Yael Stone’s allegations against him, which the New York Times published. In the statement Rush said that the accusations were “incorrect and in some instances have been taken completely out of context.”

Rush then went on to apologize to Stone for his behavior.

“I sincerely and deeply regret if I have caused her any distress. This, most certainly, has never been my intention.”

In Australian law, if Stone sues Rush and cannot prove her accusations, she will then run the risk of being countersued for libel.