httpss://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5mqkL4lgjw
The actor Brendan Fraser has said he is “Still frightened” to this day, after being sexually assaulted in 2003 by Philip Berk, former head of the organisation behind the Golden Globe film awards.
The 49-year-old became a household name in the Nineties with starring roles in blockbusters such as The Mummy and George of the Jungle, before slipping into obscurity.
In a new interview with GQ Magazine, he claims his career “Witd on the vine” after he was groped by Berk, a former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which administers the Golden Globes.
The actor said he was left “Miserable”, “Depressed” and “Reclusive” after Berk groped his buttocks following a lunch hosted by the HFPA at the Beverly Hills Hotel, and speculated that the incident could have led to him being blacklisted.
Describing the alleged assault, Fraser said: “His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around.” The actor said that, overcome with panic, he actually had to remove Berk’s hand himself.
“I felt like a little kid. I felt like t was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry… In my mind, at least, something had been taken away from me.”