“True Lies” star Jamie Lee Curtis responded to Eliza Dushku’s on-set molestation claims
On Saturday, January 13th, actress Eliza Dushku revealed she was molested by high-profile stunt coordinator Joel Kramer when she was 12 years old and working on the set of True Lies. She shared her story in an extensive Facebook post, describing how Kramer worked over a period of several months to gain her and her parents’ trust, which ultimately enabled him to get her alone with him.
“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,” she wrote.
Dushku said that Kramer rubbed himself over her “catatonic” body, and then told her not to tell anyone what happened. Kramer has since released a statement denying all claims and threatened to take Dushku to court.
And now, Jamie Lee Curtis, who played Dushku’s mother in the film, is speaking out on the actresses’s behalf.
In a Huffington Post op-ed, Curtis wrote that Dushku had shared the traumatic experience with her several years ago. “All of us must take some responsibility that the loose and relaxed camaraderie that we share with our young performers has carried with it a misguided assumption that they are adults in an adult world, capable of making adult choices,” she wrote.
"Many of us involved in True Lies were parents, she continued. “Jim [Cameron], Arnold, and myself. Parents of daughters. What allegedly happened to Eliza, away from the safety net of all of us and our purview is a terrible, terrible thing to learn about and have to reconcile.
Curtis concluded that “the truth will set us free,” and hoped that the current revolution will make it so that no one ever has to wait “25 years” for justice ever again.
We’re so glad Curtis has taken a stand — especially amidst Kramer’s blanket dismissal of the allegations — and we thank Eliza Dushku for coming forward with her story. We know it will make a difference.
