Michelle Trachtenburg and Eliza Dushku are addressing what life was really like behind the scenes on Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer after co-star Charisma Carpenter accused him of long-term verbal and psychological abuse. Firefly writer Jose Molina is also weighing in, saying that Whedon actually bragged about abusing women.
MICHELLE
Trachtenburg claimed that there were restrictions on-set to prevent the 56-year-old from being alone with the 35-year-old.
“The last. Comment I will make on this. Was. There was a rule. Saying. He’s not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again,” Trachtenberg wrote via Instagram alongside a screenshot of costar Sarah Michelle Gellar's statement supporting Carpenter’s allegations.
ELIZA
Dushku, who played rogue vampire slayer Faith opposite Carpenter’s Cordelia wrote: “CC, my heart aches for you and I’m so sorry you have held this for so long.”
JOSE
“‘Casually cruel’ is a perfect way of describing Joss,” Molina wrote in a tweet Friday evening, adding the #IStandWithCharisma hashtag. “He thought being mean was funny. Making female writers cry during a notes session was especially hysterical. He actually liked to boast about the time he made one writer cry twice in one meeting.”
Whedon has come under increasing fire, with Ray Fischer accusing Whedon of “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable” behavior on the set of The Justice League. Whedon denied those allegations, but has not addressed the latest round. Fisher thanked Carpenter for speaking out against Whedon.
In November, Whedon parted ways with HBO on The Nevers.