Actor Michael Douglas attends the premiere of the film "Side Effects" in New York January 31, 2013. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT) - RTR3D7K3 (REUTERS)
Oscar winner Michael Douglas preemptively denied allegations that he once masturbated in front of a female employee and blackballed her from Hollywood, a report said.
The “Fatal Attraction” actor told Deadline Hollywoodthat he’s been told The Hollywood Reporter was set to publish a story, chronicling alleged misdeeds 32 years ago.
The woman worked for Douglas’ production company in New York, the famed actor said.
“I don’t know where to begin. This is a complete lie, fabrication, no truth to it whatsoever,” Douglas told Deadline in an interview published at 9:41 p.m. New York time.
Douglas, 73, said THR approached him before Christmas, asking him for comment on the woman’s accusations.
And then at some point after Christmas, Douglas said THR told him the story was running.
No such article was on THR’s website by 10:25 p.m.
“I felt the need to get ahead of this,” Douglas said. “It pertains to me but I’m also getting a sense of how it reflects in our culture, and what is going on today.”
Douglas admitted he often used profanities in front of his former employee – but had never directed any salty language at her.
Douglas and Deadline didn’t identify the alleged accuser.
“As far as blackballing her, that was completely untrue,” Douglas said.
“She was a lady who was involved in development at my company, and we just didn’t have a good development record in the time she was there, so I just moved on. I never blackballed her. If people from the industry called me to ask about her, I would have been honest, but I never blackballed her.”
The Hollywood Reporter could not immediately be reached for comment and, as of late Tuesday, there were no articles containing allegations against Douglas on its website.
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