A woman accusing actor Jeremy Piven of sexual misconduct says she decided to come forward about the alleged incident because it is was what she “would demand” her daughter to do.
Ariane Bellamar tweeted about the alleged incident on Oct. 30, following the #MeToo movement that saw accusations against prominent Hollywood stars and producers like Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.
READ MORE: Jeremy Piven dropped as guest on ‘The Late Show’ amid sexual harassment allegations
The Canadian actress and model said she met Piven while working as an extra on the HBO show Entourage.
In a series of tweets, Bellamar alleged Piven grabbed her while in his trailer. But she added it was a conversation she had with her daughter more than a decade later that pushed her to come forward about the alleged incident.
“My daughter Emma and I were just sitting in the kitchen and … she knows that I’m publicly involved in Twitter and I was like, ‘Yeah, this #MeToo campaign is awesome, it’s really bringing people out,'” Bellamar said.
“She’s like …’Do you have any kind of experience or has anything like that happened to you?’ And I was like, ‘Yeah…’ and she’s like, ‘Well did you report it?’ And I said, ‘No.’”
Bellamar said at that point she realized she “had not done something that I would demand my daughter to do.”
“I realized that I had not done the bare basics. And so right then and there, sitting next to my daughter at the breakfast bar… Me too,” Bellamar said.
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After tweeting the accusations, Bellamar said she has received backlash online because of her past working as an adult film actress.
“That’s the old, ‘She’s wearing the skirt too short, she deserved it argument and I thought we got rid of that a long time ago,” she said.
Since Bellamar came forward with her allegations, three other women have spoken with media about other alleged incidents of sexual misconduct against Piven.
READ MORE: Jeremy Piven ‘unequivocally’ denies sexual assault allegations on ‘Entourage’ set
There are no charges against Piven and Bellamar said she never went to police.
Piven released a statement on Twitter denying the allegations against him.
“Let me begin by saying that the accusations against me are absolutely false and completely fabricated,” he said in the statement.
Piven’s legal team said in a letter to Global News that according to HBO, the network never received complaints about Piven during his time with the hit TV show Entourage.
Lawyers for Jeremy Piven said the actor has taken and passed a polygraph test. However, despite asking to see results, lawyers did not send along proof to support the claim.
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