Ed Westwick

Gossip Girl’s Ed Westwick Denies Rape Allegation [Updated]

The actor currently stars in the BBC comedy White Gold.
Ed Westwick.
By Daniel Zuchnik/WireImage.

Update (1:45 P.M.): Ed Westwick has denied raping Kristina Cohen, and claims in a tweet that he does not know her.

“I do not know this woman,“ Westwick writes. “I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman. I certainly have never committed rape.“

The original post continues below.


Ed Westwick, best known for playing Chuck Bass in the CW’s Gossip Girl and current star of the BBC series White Gold, is the latest Hollywood figure to be accused of rape.

In a lengthy Facebook post published Monday, actress Kristina Cohen alleges that the actor assaulted her three years ago while she visited his house with a man she was seeing at the time, whom she identified only as “the producer.”

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“It was a dark time in my life,” Cohen writes. “My mom was dying of cancer and I didn’t have the support system or time to process and deal with the aftermath of the rape. I buried my pain and guilt to make space for the onslaught that came after my mom’s death, just three months later. Even now, I grapple with feelings of guilt.”

Cohen states that the producer she was seeing was friends with Westwick and that she met the ex-Gossip Girl star the day of the alleged assault.

I wanted to leave when Ed suggested “we should all fuck.” But the producer didn’t want to make Ed feel awkward by leaving. Ed insisted we stay for dinner. I said I was tired and wanted to leave, trying to get out of what was already an uncomfortable situation. Ed suggested I nap in the guest bedroom. The producer said we would stay for just another 20 more minutes to smooth everything over, and then we could leave.

So I went and laid down in the guest room where I eventually fell asleep, I was woken up abruptly by Ed on top of me, his fingers entering my body. I told him to stop, but he was strong. I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to fuck me. I was paralyzed, terrified. I couldn’t speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me. It was a nightmare, and the days following weren’t any better.

The producer put the blame on me, telling me I was an active participant. Telling me that I can’t say anything because Ed will have people come after me, destroy me, and that I could forget about an acting career. Saying there’s no way I can go around saying Ed “raped” me and that I don’t want to be “that girl.”

And for the longest time, I believed him. I didn’t want to be “that girl.”

I now realize the ways in which these men in power prey on women, and how this tactic is used so frequently in our industry, and surely, in many others.

Representatives for Westwick have not yet responded to Vanity Fair’s request for comment.

On Gossip Girl, Westwick’s character, Chuck Bass, was initially portrayed as a lascivious attempted rapist; by the end of the series he had become the show’s romantic hero. Now Westwick stars in the BBC comedy White Gold, which got renewed for a second season over the summer. V.F. has reached out to BBC to find out if Cohen’s allegation will affect plans for the show, as well as to Netflix, which carries the series internationally.

Netflix’s The Ranch is also under fire, as one of its stars, Danny Masterson, faces four rape allegations of his own. (In response to the allegations, Masterson's attorney told V.F. that the L.A.P.D. "already investigated this matter twice. The first time in 2004 and then again earlier this year. Both investigations have been closed. No charges have been filed against our client. Any suggestion that there is ‘overwhelming’ evidence against Mr. Masterson flies in the face of reason. If there were overwhelming evidence of felony conduct against anyone, let alone a celebrity, law enforcement would arrest and charge that individual immediately.”) The streaming service has also already severed ties with Kevin Spacey, star of House of Cards, which was filming its sixth and final season until production was suspended following misconduct allegations against Spacey.)

“I hope my coming forward will help others to know that they are not alone, that they are not to blame, and it is not their fault,” Cohen wrote on Facebook. “Just as the other women and men coming forward have helped me to realize the same. I hope that my stories and the stories of others help to reset and realign the toxic environments and power imbalances that have created these monsters.”