Charisma Carpenter has another co-star in her corner.
“Bring It On” star Eliza Dushku is the latest “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” alum to express her support for 50-year-old Carpenter, who claimed on Wednesday that “Buffy” creator Joss Whedon, 56, for years, he “abused his power” and encouraged an “increasingly volatile work environment”.
“CC, my heart aches for you and I’m sorry you’ve kept this for so long,” Dushku, who is no stranger to harassment at work, wrote on Instagram. “Your post was strong, painful and painted a picture that, collectively, we will not see or know.”
Dushku played Faith, a vampire killer, in front of Carpenter’s Cordelia Chase, both “Buffy” and “Angel”. He joins a growing list of “Buffy” vets – including Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Benson and Emma Caulfield – to support the voice on social media, telling Carpenter, “I admire you, I respect you. and I love you”.
The 40-year-old actress “Tru Calling” and “Dollhouse” have previously experienced toxic jobs. In 2018, Dushku claimed that “True Lies” stunt coordinator Joel Kramer sexually abused her at the age of 12.
Then came the bombshell report from the same year, which revealed that Dushku was secretly paid $ 9.5 million by CBS in 2018 for the claims against which “Bull” was avenged and annulled, after complaining about alleged sexual harassment by lead Michael Weatherly on set.
“I often think of the saying, ‘We are as sick as our secrets,'” Dushku continued in her post. “Our secrets really make us sick and keep us going. What I am learning more and more – and I have personally found the most valuable – is that deep healing can only come from naming and revealing what actually happened, the first necessary step (once someone is ready) to it frees us from our secrets, unspoken truths that have kept us isolated, ashamed and held hostage ”.
Carpenter cited the unceremonious launch of Ray Fisher as Cyborg in the upcoming hit “The Flash” as a catalyst for her exit against Whedon. The Justice League actor had accused his director of being “rude, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable” to himself and others on the set of the superhero film Warner Bros. The 33-year-old actor redistributed Carpenter’s emotional post and called her “one of the bravest people I know.”
Carpenter’s and Fisher’s statements add to Trachtenberg’s accusations of “inappropriate behavior” by Whedon toward the then-teen on the set of “Buffy” and that “there was a rule that it was not allowed to enter a room alone ”with her again.
Representatives for Whedon – who “broke up” with HBO’s “The Nevers” in November – did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
