The actress alleges that stunt coordinator Joel Kramer molested her when they were working together on 'True Lies.'
Eliza Dushku is telling her story.
The Dollhouse star shared an emotional essay on Facebook on Saturday, claiming that she was molested by stuntman Joel Kramer while filming True Lies when she was just 12 years old. Kramer has continued to work in the industry, and was a stunt coordinator on recent films like Blake Runner 2049 and The Conjuring 2.
Dushku accuses Kramer, who has denied the allegations, of luring her to his hotel room and promising her parents that he would take her swimming at the True Lies stunt crew's hotel pool.
"I remember vividly how he methodically drew the shades and turned down the lights; how he cranked up the air-conditioning to what felt like freezing levels, where exactly he placed me on one of the two hotel room beds, what movie he put on the television (Coneheads); how he disappeared in the bathroom and emerged, naked, bearing nothing but a small hand towel held flimsy at his mid-section," Dushku wrote.
She claims that Kramer, 36 at the time, then laid her down on the bed and "rubbed all over me," before suggesting that she not tell anyone about the encounter. Duskhu alleges that Kramer pulled her onto his lap on the taxi ride home, but grew "cold" in the encounters that followed.
The actress, now 37, says she told a "tough adult friend" on set about the experience, claiming that they confronted Kramer -- but alleges that "by no small coincidence," later that same day, she broke ribs in a stunt that went wrong.
"To be clear, over the course of those months rehearsing and filming True Lies, it was Joel Kramer who was responsible for my safety on a film that at the time broke new ground for action films," she says. "On a daily basis he rigged wires and harnesses on my 12 year old body. My life was literally in his hands: he hung me in the open air, from a tower crane, atop an office tower, 25+ stories high. Whereas he was supposed to be my protector, he was my abuser."
Dushku writes that she felt compelled to speak out after being "haunted" by seeing a photo of Kramer with a young girl, and praises other women in Hollywood who have come forward to name their alleged abusers.
"Sharing these words, finally calling my abuser out publicly by name, brings the start of a new calm," she wrote.
“These are outlandish, manipulated lies,” Kramer told Deadline on Saturday. “I never sexually molested her. I’m sick to my stomach. It’s not true. I think she’s making this up in her imagination. This is all lies. Lies, lies, lies. This is just crazy. I treated her like a daughter. We all looked out for her. How does a guy like me fight against something like this? I don’t know what to do.” ET has reached out to Kramer's rep for comment.
Kramer also told Deadline that he never intentionally hurt her on the set of the film. “I remember she might have gotten a little bruised...but I don’t think she broke any ribs.”
Tom Arnold, who starred alongside Dushku in True Lies, took to Twitter to commend her for speaking out.
"@elizadushku was a wonderful child and is an amazing woman. I ❤️ her," he wrote. "This makes me very angry & breaks my heart but I AM SO PROUD OF HER. #MeToo #TimesUp."
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