Page 93 of Deck the Hauls

I breathed out. Okay, maybe I’d read too much into his comment.

Should I just talk to Charles about Phillip, instead of trying to interpret how his comments about Austin might apply to Phillip as well? It might be relevant for him to know I could be embroiled in other sexual harassment allegations. Not only that, but Charles might have some useful insights. He’d been in the industry for years, after all.

I took a deep breath. “Would it be okay to bounce something off you, on a confidential basis?”

“Of course.” Charles pulled the lid off a jar of sugar in the middle of the table and put two spoonfuls in his coffee.

I glanced at Dana. Under the table, Dana gave my thigh a comforting squeeze, as if she knew what I was about to say.

“You know Phillip Weatherstone?”

Charles nodded. “Not personally, but I’ve heard of him, of course.”

“Well, while I was filming Clique he tried to pressure me into sleeping with him. He said he’d recommend me for future roles if I complied, and that if I didn’t, he’d ruin my career."

Charles set down his coffee, his brow furrowed. “I’m so sorry, Emily. I’d heard rumors he was an unpleasant guy, but I didn’t realize he was that bad. That explains a lot.”

“Oh?”

“I was warned by multiple people you were difficult to work with. No offense, but if we hadn’t been desperate to find someone after the original actress was injured, I wouldn’t have hired you. But then when you started, you weren’t difficult at all—well, apart from having very high standards and wanting to do all those takes.” Charles chuckled, but it quickly faded away. “I’m nowhere near as influential as Phillip is, but I’ll sing your praises loudly to try to counter him. Have you considered lodging a complaint? It seems like a pretty blatant case of sexual harassment to me.”

My stomach roiled with nausea at Charles’ words. I knew Phillip had blacklisted me; I just didn’t know exactly what he’d said to people.

“He threatened if I told anyone, he’d make my life even more miserable. I did speak to my agent about it, and she advised against doing anything. It would have been ‘he said, she said.’ And because I rejected him, nothing actually happened between us.”

“Apart from him ruining your career,” Dana added, her knuckles white around her coffee mug.

“Yeah, there was that.” I sighed. “Anyway, over the past few months, I’ve had a reporter reach out to me. I wasn’t the only one Phillip did this to. Other women have come forward, but only one is willing to be named and speak on the record. She needs one more.”

Charles blew out a deep breath. “That’s very difficult, Emily. I’m sorry. What are you thinking?”

“I don’t know. It just feels like terrible timing. If this had all come up last year, when my career felt completely hopeless, I might have been more comfortable speaking out because I had nothing left to lose. But with this HolLove role, I have a sliver of hope that things might turn around. I’m worried about blowing it all up. And what if it comes out that I’m involved in allegations against Austin as well? Will that make people doubt me? What are the chances I’d be involved in multiple sexual harassment issues?”

Charles ran his hand over his bald head. “Unfortunately, it’s quite high. I can’t tell you what to do, but I can tell you that I went through something similar in the late 1990s and never regretted speaking out.”

My eyebrows shot up. “What happened—if you don’t mind sharing?”

Charles leaned his arms on the table. “Did you ever wonder why I went from directing Oscar winners to HolLove movies?”

“Um, maybe a little?” Was it rude to admit it?

“I complained about a producer—a very influential, racist and homophobic producer—who made my life a misery, and he destroyed my career.”

Wow. That took guts. And it put my own issues in some perspective. Being a Black, openly gay man in the nineties would have given rise to so many more challenges than I experienced as closeted white woman thirty years later.

“Shit, I’m sorry. And you have no regrets, even though he ruined your career?”

Charles swirled his coffee in his cup. “I mean, I was furious about the whole thing, but I would have found it very hard to know that he was out there, still being a racist homophobic prick, and I hadn’t done everything in my power to stop him. But you obviously need to make your own decision. I don’t want to sugarcoat it. It will be hard if you speak out. The media will probably rake through your past and hound you for interviews. But eventually, it will blow over. They’ll find a fresh scandal to focus on instead. And the fact that there are other women willing to speak out against him will give you a level of credibility I lacked.”

I gripped Dana’s hand under the table. Surely no one would notice.

What would the media raking over my past involve? Would they work out that Dana and I had been living together? Find evidence of those flings I’d had in my early twenties with women? But would I be able to live with myself if I didn’t speak out, knowing Phillip was almost certainly continuing to harass women?

This was bigger than Phillip, bigger than Austin too. There were clearly systemic issues at play. Speaking out would also bring attention to these issues and send a message that behavior like this was not acceptable in Hollywood or HolLove.

Charles tilted his head, looking out the window at the cars driving past. “You know, my biggest regret isn’t about speaking out; it’s that I left my career to wallow for the last few decades, accepting any role I could get, rather than trying to rebuild it. I’ve been burning myself out, churning out HolLove movies, trying to keep HolLove happy so the work doesn’t dry up, rather than taking a step back and focusing on what I really want to do. But not anymore. I’m working on something that will let me focus on projects that get me really excited.”

“That’s really inspiring. I can’t wait to see what it is. Did something happen that made you change direction?” I asked, leaning forward.