Entourage actor and filmmaker Kevin Connolly has been accused of sexual assault. In a report by The Daily Beast, former costume designer Gracie Cox alleges that Connolly assaulted her at a wrap party for his 2005 directorial debut, The Gardener of Eden.
According to Cox, the two had gone to smoke a cigarette during the party, to which Connolly led her to a private VIP lounge area. “As soon as we were alone in that area, he started to kiss me,” Cox recounted. “I didn’t know how to respond—but before I could even think about what to do about it, he pulled me into one of these little side [booths], and pulled down my pants, and turned me around, and within no time was inside of me. I was just in shock.”
Cox contended, “There was not really a chance in my mind to object or resist. It just happened really fast. I froze and was in shock. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before in any way, shape or form. I was completely caught off-guard.” She went on to share that Connolly did not wear a condom, threw a pillow off a nearby couch at her, and “told me to ‘clean myself up’.” He also insisted she wait to leave a few minutes because “he didn’t want anyone to see us together.”
During the party, Cox confided with friend and colleague Amy Westcott, a costume designer who had originally brought Cox into the production. “Amy was immediately enraged and protective, and then went after [Connolly],” Cox explained. “Then they had an argument in the middle of the party, yelling at each other.” The Daily Beast confirmed the incident with two crew members, both of whom asked to be anonymous for fear of retaliation. One crew member stated Cox looked “disheveled.”
In addition to the aforementioned, The Daily Beast also spoke with four of Cox’s friends, all of whom confirmed she had confided to them within days of the incident. The Daily Beast also retrieved a letter from Cox’s therapist dated December 14, 2005, that read, “[Cox] felt she could not say no because of the director’s power over her employment, but that she did not want to have sex with him and was emotionally upset by the incident.” The Daily Beast also reviewed the results of the STD test that Cox took shortly after the incident.
Connolly has denied the allegations, contending it was a “mutual consensual encounter,” and issued a lengthy statement to The Daily Beast through his attorney Marty Singer:
“Kevin strongly supports victims of sexual assault and believes their claims should always be heard. As someone who has worked in this industry for four decades, he has treated people with nothing but respect and has maintained a stellar reputation. Therefore, he was completely shocked to learn of the allegations made by Gracie Cox from a wrap party in 2005. The incident with Ms. Cox was consensual, and he categorically denies any claim that it was assault… Kevin completely understands Amy’s displeasure with the consensual act that transpired between Kevin and Gracie 15 years ago, after production had wrapped and they were no longer working together on the movie. Kevin acknowledges the lack of professionalism on his part, but he adamantly denies that it was anything other than a mutual consensual encounter.”
Cox has since left Hollywood to pursue work in children’s mental health in Charleston, South Carolina. As she told The Daily Beast, “I want it to be known that [Connolly] is dangerous, and I want him to not get away with it any longer.”
Read the full report here.
