Hilarie Burton: Mark Schwahn’s harassment made me derail my acting career
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Last week, we covered the story of One Tree Hill showrunner Mark Schwahn’s gross abuse of power as he was outed as a serially abuser by 18 women who worked with him on the show. Schwahn was then suspended as the showrunner of The Royals, after which one of the young women acting on the show, Alexandra Park, said in a statement “I too have been exposed to this reprehensible behavior.” Then star Elizabeth Hurley released a statement too and she missed the mark, I think, by sort-of defending Schwahn. “Yes, he flirts and tells risqué jokes — but so do I. To hear that there was more than this is a shocking surprise.” Hurley did support Park in her statement and wrote that she regrets missing the signs. However 25 other women who worked on The Royals all went on the record to state that they too were harassed and psychologically abused by Schwahn, writing that Schwahn committed “repeated unwanted sexual harassment of multiple female members of cast and crew.” Like the women who spoke out against Schwahn’s behavior while working on One Tree Hill, they wrote that they looked out for each other and warned new cast and crew about Schwahn. You can read their full statement here.
Hilarie Burton, who is now 35 and is expecting her second child with actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Negan on The Walking Dead), was interviewed by Variety about her experience on set with Schwahn during One Tree Hill. Burton worked on the series from 2003 – 2009, which made her just 21 years old when it started and at the beginning of career. Schwahn was 37 at the time. Unfortunately that experience with Schwahn’s multiple unwanted advances made her so gun shy at the time that she decided not to pursue acting opportunities, lest other men in power treat her similarly. This is just an excerpt of her interview, which I recommend you read in its entirety. Burton impressed me with how clearly she explained what happened to her and how it affected her. An actress named Danneel Ackles who joined OTH in the third season was interviewed by Variety and described a similar pattern of harassment and stalking by Schwahn. (Daneel is the woman shown on the right in the photo above.) Several other people who worked with Schwahn confirmed these accounts and detailed how he harassed and touched them as well.
“Things took a turn in season three,” Burton said. “That’s when Mark decided that I was his muse.”
Speaking to Variety, Burton recalled years of harassment and assault that she alleges Schwahn perpetrated against her and other women on the show. She claimed that Schwahn twice forced himself on her, kissing her on the mouth without warning and against her will. She said Schwahn touched her inappropriately while in the presence of his wife. All in all, she described a culture on “One Tree Hill” in which Schwahn pitted women against each other, was verbally abusive, and spread false rumors about physical relationships he claimed to have had with female cast members….
Burton said her experience with Schwahn has had a negative impact on her career. Since leaving “One Tree Hill,” she has refused to audition and refused to work for showrunners she does not already know. She was dropped by her agent after she refused to allow herself to be considered for series-regular roles during pilot season, hesitant to be locked into a longterm contract with a showrunner she didn’t know. (After a period of working with only a manager, she is now represented by APA.)
“The fear of being forced into another one of these situations was crippling,” she said. “I never wanted to be the lead female on any show ever, ever, ever again.”
This is what struck me about Louis CK’s victims also, that women he harassed often had their careers forever changed, some choosing to stop working in standup entirely. Even when a serial abuser isn’t directly attacking his victims’ careers, like Harvey Weinstein who spread rumors and actively ruined women’s prospects by wielding his power, they still affect their choices, both personally and professionally. So many women blame themselves for that, when they were targeted by a predator and nothing they did could have changed that. So many side players are complicit in that cycle as well. Burton wants to set up a system where union representatives check up on young actors on set, because of the insular nature of the work and the fact that they can be isolated from family, agents and managers. It’s clear from all these disturbing accounts that so much needs to change.
