Selma Blair is revisiting a terrifying encounter with a Hollywood director who she says threatened her into silence after allegedly pressuring her to undress early on in her career.
During an appearance on “The Jenny McCarthy Show,” the “Cruel Intentions” actress — who filmed the podcast episode prior to her arrest this month — opened up about her alleged experience with filmmaker James Toback, recalling how the Oscar-nominated screenwriter left her fearful for her life.
“He really put the fear of God in me in my early 20s,” Blair told McCarthy, describing Toback as “really, really scary.”
Blair recalled an alleged encounter in which Toback pressured her to remove her clothes while performing a monologue, presenting the request as part of her acting development.
“I took my clothes off,” Blair recalled. “It was horrifying.”
She said Toback instructed her to “do the monologue naked,” despite her discomfort.
“I was really uncomfortable,” Blair said. “It was really traumatic.”
Blair explained that she initially believed the director was trying to improve her acting abilities, rather than making a sexual advance.
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“I was scared, and I was a people pleaser,” she admitted.
The actress said Toback later made disparaging remarks about her appearance, including comments about her hips.
“How dare you? Like, how are you going to make someone feel bad?” Blair recalled thinking.
She also described an alleged threat that she said prevented her from speaking publicly about the experience for years.
“He said, ‘You know, if you ever tell a soul, I’ll gouge your eyes out with a Bic pen.’ And I believed it and I kept quiet.”
Blair’s allegations were among those examined in a 2017 Los Angeles Times investigation by reporter Glenn Whipp, which initially detailed sexual harassment accusations from 38 women against Toback.
The women described encounters in which the filmmaker allegedly used promises of acting opportunities to initiate sexually inappropriate interactions.
Blair was initially an anonymous source in the investigation. As additional women came forward, the number of accusers grew to more than 300, according to subsequent reporting by the Los Angeles Times.
Blair said she ultimately decided to publicly identify herself after learning that Toback had disputed the women’s accounts.
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“When I found out he called all these women liars … I was like, oh no, I can’t stand for that,” Blair told McCarthy.
“I will no longer be anonymous because he’s not going to do that.”
In October 2017, Blair and fellow actress Rachel McAdams publicly detailed their allegations against Toback in a Vanity Fair interview.
Toback denied the sexual misconduct allegations reported by the Los Angeles Times at the time, saying he either had not met the women or did not recall their encounters.
Reflecting on the experience years later, Blair expressed anger about the treatment she said she endured.
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“It was all awful. It was so upsetting and awful,” she said.
Blair also offered a message to other women who might face similar pressure in the entertainment industry: “You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to do it.”
Earlier this month, Blair — who revealed publicly in 2018 that she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis — was arrested and arraigned on two counts of second-degree assault stemming from accusations that she assaulted a nurse and a police officer after an incident involving crew members aboard a Delta Air Lines flight to New York City. Blair pleaded not guilty.
The judge set bail at $20,000 cash/$60,000 bond/$60,000 partially secured bond. She’s expected in court in January 2027.
Fox News Digital’s Tracy Wright contributed to this post.
