Michael Douglas' sexual harassment accuser tells her side of the story

The other side of the Michael Douglas harassment accusation
The other side of the Michael Douglas harassment accusation
Image: Daniel Zuchnik/Getty Images

A few days ago, Michael Douglas continued a recent trend for powerful men on the cusp of having sexual misconduct allegations exposed: He got ahead of the story.

Douglas went on the offensive. In an interview with Deadline, he denied the woman's account and  attacked her. 

Now, Hollywood Reporter editorial director Matthew Belloni has published the woman's side of the story. Susan Braudy, a novelist and journalist, who worked at the production company Douglas founded at the height of his career in the '80s, accused Douglas of multiple instances of sexual harassment, one of which included him masturbating in front of her.  

Baudy kept a meticulous written account and timeline of each incident while also telling various friends, who corroborate her story, about the harassment at the time.

Throughout, Braudy says she did her best to avoid "the cloud of sexual aggression that Michael reflexively emitted." But he continuously made lewd, sexual comments around her and about her. Most egregiously, Baudy wrote that once:

"I laughed loudly and he shouted to a group of agents, 'Oh yeah, she's a screamer! I bet she screams in the sack.' I protested, 'Please, don't talk like that. It's inappropriate.' This made him laugh until he got pink splotches on his cheeks."

The harassment culminated in an incident where Baudy recalls how Douglas actually masturbated in front of her during a script meeting:

"Michael unzipped his chinos and I registered something amiss. Still complimenting my additions to our E.T. imitation, his voice lowered at least half an octave. I peered at him and saw he'd inserted both hands into his unzipped pants. I realized to my horror that he was rubbing his private parts. Within seconds his voice cracked and it appeared to me he'd had an orgasm."

Braudy writes that she closed her notebook and rushed for the door: "I said nothing. I was surprised I wasn't falling to pieces even though I was humiliated. I realized he thought he could do anything he wanted because he was so much more powerful than I was. Michael ran barefoot after me to the elevator, zipping his fly and buckling his belt. 'Hey, thank you, you're good. You helped me, thank you, thank you.'"

Shortly thereafter, Douglas fired Baudy — though she managed to avoid signing a confidentiality agreement, which silence so many other victims of sexual harassment.

Baudy called out Douglas' preemptive strike as an attempt to discredit her and her story through a "pretext of [his] victimization." She goes on to acknowledge that this is only one of the new tactics predators are using to intimidate women back into silence. 

"Lord knows it's taken 30 years and a movement for me to gather my courage," she said.

Ever since Babe published a questionable article with an anonymous woman accusing Aziz Ansari of sexual misconduct, many have taken it as an excuse to discredit every other story published on assault in recent months. 

Aziz Ansari starring in his Netflix show 'Masters of None'

Aziz Ansari starring in his Netflix show 'Masters of None'

Image: netflix

Belloni took the time to address that backlash, outlining the strict editorial vetting process THR undergoes before determining an accusation is fit for publication. Each story must: 1) Show a clear abuse of power, 2) Have witnesses, sources, or evidence that corroborates the accusation, 3) Undergo legal review, and 4) Contact the subject of the accusation for comment.

In a written statement to THR, Douglas again denied the allegations as "fabrication." He also accused Baudy of doing "a true disservice to those who have actually endured sexual harassment and intimidation."

Belloni made a salient argument to counter the recent backlash sparked by the Ansari story:

As the floodgates have opened and new accusers come forward nearly every day, some have said the #MeToo movement has gone too far and that the media is either complicit in a burgeoning witch hunt or, worse, exploiting the situation for notoriety or web traffic or whatever. While there are stories that have crossed a line, I don't think the solution is to listen to women less or dismiss their stories more. Responsible media outlets, it seems, should be listening to these stories, vetting them thoroughly and presenting those that pass muster in the proper context. That's our standard, at least.

For decades, publishing sexual assault and harassment accusations against powerful men was considered too risky. Now, the systemic structures that silenced accusers are crumbling, at least in the  entertainment and media industries, as perpetrators find themselves blacklisted and unable to keep the public in the dark.

Investigative journalism on sexual misconduct at this scale is an unprecedented, historical moment. But respectable outlets know that this watershed moment relies on the editorial strength of their reporting.

It appears many (if not most) are taking the weight of that responsibility to heart. 

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