Chris Noth Denied The Allegations That He Sexually Assaulted 2 Women
The alleged rapes took place in 2004 and 2015.
(Content warning: This story discusses sexual assault.) On Dec. 16, The Hollywood Reporter reported that Sex and the City actor Chris Noth was accused of sexual assault by two women. The alleged assaults took place in 2004 and 2015. Noth denied the allegations, calling them “categorically false” and saying their “encounters were consensual.”
Noth’s denial is firm, yet both women, who THR confirmed did not know each other and approached the outlet separately, have startlingly similar accounts of their alleged encounters with Noth despite the 11-year gap between them. Zoe (a pseudonym), whose alleged assault took place in 2004, was working in the entertainment industry when she met Noth. “He would walk by my desk and flirt with me. He somehow got my number from the directory and was leaving messages on my work phone,” she claimed to THR. They eventually made plans to see each other when Noth reportedly invited her to come to his apartment building’s pool. According to Zoe, while there, he lent her a book that he reportedly requested she return to his apartment later.
When she brought the book to him, he reportedly kissed her. Zoe said she kissed him back before trying to leave. Then, Noth allegedly pulled her back toward the bed, took off her shorts and bikini bottoms, and raped her from behind. “It was very painful and I yelled out, ‘Stop!’” she claimed. “And he didn’t. I said, ‘Can you at least get a condom?’ and he laughed at me.”
Afterward, Zoe said she went to Cedars-Sinai Hospital with a friend. “I had stitches. Two police officers came. I wouldn’t say who it was,” Zoe recalled, fearing that accusing Noth would result in her termination. “They gave me a little crisis counseling brochure and some medicine.”
Lily (also a pseudonym), Noth’s second alleged survivor, met the actor in 2015. According to her account, the two went back to Noth’s apartment after having wine at a nearby bar. “I thought, ‘We’re going to drink whiskey and talk about his acting career.’ It sounds so stupid,” Lily said. As the night wore on, Lily claimed Noth’s intentions became clearer. “He tried to make out with me. I cautiously entertained it... He kept trying and trying and trying, and I should have said no more firmly and left. And then the next thing I knew, he pulled down his pants and he was standing in front of me.” Lily alleged that he then “thrust his penis” in her mouth, per THR.
Lily continued, “He was having sex with me from the back in a chair. We were in front of a mirror. I was kind of crying as it happened.” She added, “I went to the bathroom and put on my skirt. I was feeling awful. Totally violated.”
Lily also shared what she claimed to be her texts with Noth from 2015. Per The Hollywood Reporter, Noth sent her a text asking how she felt about their time together. Part of it read, “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.”
In response to both allegations, Noth released a statement to THR:
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. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.
It’s not uncommon for survivors of sexual assault to delay speaking out. “There is a wide array of reasons that people don't come forward, and from our perspective, all of them are legitimate. It really depends on the person and the way that they view what's necessary for their healing out of the situation,” Keeli Sorensen, former vice president of victim services at RAINN, told ABC News in 2018.
Sorensen added, “If I am someone who believes there is going to be retaliation, or the person who committed and perpetrated the events against me is well-respected, has a high-profile within a community, a community I care about, I am going to see a lot of risk related to reporting, particularly because it will instigate an investigation, and that might be a risk I'm not willing to take.”
Plus, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the women’s reasons for choosing to speak out now were similar: Noth’s reprisal of his role as Mr. Big in HBO’s new series And Just Like That... triggered their memories of the alleged incidents.
Zoe shared a more personal reason for her timing as well. Zoe said she initially attempted to “bury” the memory, but when her mother — also a rape survivor — was diagnosed with cancer in 2018, she reconsidered her position. “As she was dying, she was haunted by her [own] assault,” Zoe said. “I don’t want to be in the same position, where I’m haunted at the end of my life.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.
