James Franco explained in a new interview this week that he has been ‘examining’ his past behavior and ‘changing who I was’ since several women accused him of sexual misconduct in 2018 — allegations that led him to settle with two accusers for $2.2 million this summer.
Franco, 43, broke his silence on SiriusXM’s The Jess Cagle Podcast this week, saying that he has remained quiet all this time because he knew he ‘needed to listen’ and examine the ‘behavior’ and ‘patterning’ that he has been blind to.
“I have just done a lot work. “I guess that’s four years. I think I can say it confidently. He said.
‘I [was]”I am completely ignorant of power dynamics, or any other such thing, and I’m also totally blind to the emotions of others,” he said.
The actor also revealed that while he has been sober and attending meetings for alcohol addiction, he also battled sex addiction for 20 years, cheating on ‘everyone’ he dated before his current girlfriend Isabel Pakzad, whom he has been with since November 2017.
James Franco stated this week that since 2018 when several women had accused him for sexual misconduct, he’s been “examining” his past and “changing who I am”.
In January of 2018, five women told the Los Angeles Times that Franco had been sexually inappropriate or exploitative with them. One woman described how Franco took plastic protectors out of the vulvas of actresses during a scene that involved oral sex.
Two of the women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, sued Franco in 2019, claimed that he tried to ‘create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education’ while they attended his Studio 4 acting school.
Franco settled for $2.2 million in July.
Franco briefly spoke out about taking responsibility at the beginning of the allegations but maintained that he was innocent.
He has limited his public exposure since, until sitting down with the The Jess Cagle Podcast for an interview that will debut tomorrow, December 23.
Cagle asked him how he decided to ‘pause’ after learning of the allegations.
He said, “In 2018, there were some complaints against me and an article on me. At that moment, I thought I was gonna be quiet.”
‘I’m gonna be, I’m gonna pause. This did not feel like the best time to express anything. Some people were mad at me. I was able to hear them.
“I have just done a lot work. It’s a fact that I feel pretty secure in saying, “I’ve been doing a lot of work for like, four years.” He said
Sarah Tither Kaplan (pictured below) is one actress who publicly called Franco for his sexually offensive and exploitative actions
Toni Gaal was the other student in this lawsuit. The class action suit was settled by Toni Gaal and he paid $2.2 million
Damon Young was a writer who spoke out about what happens when such things happen. His natural instinct to stop it is to do so. It’s important to be able to move forward and do whatever it takes to make it stop.
“But that does not allow you to see the bigger picture, to be able to take responsibility for your actions and look underneath.
“So that’s it. I just have been working a lot. “I guess that’s four years. I think I can say it confidently. He said.
Franco spoke out about how he was in long-term recovery from substance abuse but has since been working to overcome his sex addiction.
“I have been in rehabilitation before for substance abuse. I also had issues related to addiction. He said that he used his recovery experience to help him examine the situation and change who he was.
‘[Sex is]This drug is so powerful. Then I was hooked for another 20 years.
“The most important part is that I was sober all the time. So I was a regular attendee at meetings. So I tried sponsoring others. So it became clear to me that I was sober. “I’m living an authentic spiritual life.” And I am acting now in many other ways. But I didn’t see.
Franco sad he has battled sex addiction and cheated on every girlfriend prior to his current girlfriend, Isabel Pakzad (pictured in 2019)
Franco confessed that he’d been unfaithful over many years to several of his girlfriends.
I could not be faithful to anyone. He said, “So I cheated.” “I cheated with Isabel and everyone else before.”
“People I was with, or had a relationship with, would be there for me for many years.” But I could not be there. The behavior escalated to the point that it seemed like everyone was being hurt.
He recalled his sponsor chastising him for cheating, but telling him that if he’s single, there’s nothing wrong with sleeping around — which Franco said he ‘ran’ with.
‘[My sponsor was]Like, “Look, cheating is dishonest.” Franco explained that while I do not believe this is good for sobriety it can be a problem if someone you don’t know wants to date you and then you want to hook up.
The problem was that I just took it and ran with it, using it as an excuse to hook up all over town. We’re just being real here. Right?’ He said.
He admitted, however that he did not think about power dynamics when he was pursuing people who he had worked with or attended his acting school.
‘I [was]I am completely ignorant of power dynamics, or any other such thing. But I also have no regard for people’s feelings. He said, “I didn’t want to hurt people.”
Franco said it was also hurtful that his longtime costar and collaborator Seth Rogen stated that he did not plan on working with Franco in the future.
Rogen claimed that Franco hasn’t worked with him recently and that there is no plan for Franco to work together right now.
In the new interview, Franco also admitted that it was ‘hurtful’ when his longtime collaborator and costar Seth Rogen said that he had no plans to work with him in the future.
Initially, when the allegations came out in 2018, Rogen told Vulture that he would continue to work with Franco.
However, in May, he changed his position and stated to the Sunday Times of Britain that he did not.
“I look back at that interview in 2018, where I said that I would work with James again, but the truth is, I haven’t and I don’t plan on right now,” he stated.
Speaking on the podcast this week, Franco said he ‘absolutely loves’ Rogen, whom he worked with for 20 years — but ‘what he said is true, you know, we aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together.’
He continued, “Officially it was hurtful. He had to answer my question and I didn’t like that. So that is why it was one of my main reasons to speak to you today. I simply don’t want Seth nor my brother to have any responsibility for answering me.