Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Rita Wilson Opens Up About How Scott Rudin Made Her Feel 'Worthless' After Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis

Rita Wilson Opens Up About How Scott Rudin Made Her Feel 'Worthless' After Her Breast Cancer Diagnosis
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic/Getty Images; Gary Gershoff/WireImage/Getty Images

Over the past few weeks, harrowing allegations of abuse have come to light from former interns and assistants of Hollywood and Broadway mega-producer Scott Rudin.

Now, a household name is joining the list of those coming forward. Actress Rita Wilson went on the record about the way Rudin made her feel "worthless" and tried to fire her following her diagnosis with breast cancer in 2015.


Wilson revealed her experience in a New York Times article this past weekend.

Wilson worked with Rudin on the Broadway play Fish in the Dark in 2015. She learned of her cancer diagnosis during its run.

Wilson told the Times Rudin's response to her diagnosis was to express dismay she would need time off during Tony Awards voting season. He demanded to see her medical records.

Wilson also described an incident in which, as she was about to go onstage, she received a phone call from her agent saying Rudin was demanding Wilson's surgeon call the production's insurance adjuster immediately.

Wilson said she felt like Rudin's actions belied an ulterior motive.

"I felt like he was trying to find a way to fire me legally."

And she described the way Rudin made her feel in harrowing terms.

"He is the kind of person who makes someone feel worthless, unvaluable and replaceable."

Rudin, via a spokesman, denied Wilson's account.

Wilson joins several high-profile luminaries in film and theater who have spoken out against Rudin in recent weeks, including Pulitzer-winning playwright Adam Rapp, financier David Geffen, South Park and Book of Mormon co-creator Matt Stone and author Michael Chabon.

Wilson's comments come on the heels of two sweeping exposés in The Hollywood Reporter and Vulture of Rudin's alleged workplace misconduct, including racism, misogyny, verbal abuse and throwing objects at employees. Among the revelations were an assistant so badly injured by Rudin hurling a computer at him he had to go to the hospital, and another who developed severe PTSD and eventually committed suicide.

On Twitter, Wilson's experience only intensified the scrutiny and anger towards Rudin.










Long considered one of the most powerful men in entertainment on both coasts, Rudin has produced Oscar-winning films including The Social Network and No Country for Old Men. He also produced Tony-winning Broadway shows like The Book of Mormon and Aaron Sorkin's adaptation of To Kill a Mockingbird.

More from Entertainment/tv-and-movies

Elmo; New York Knicks
Paul Zimmerman/WireImage; Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Elmo Hit With Hilarious Backlash From New Yorkers After Tweeting Well-Wishes To Both The Knicks And The Spurs

Sesame Street may be set on a fictional street in a Manhattan neighborhood, but only a select few characters have that New York attitude.

Lovable, cuddly little Elmo is definitely not one of them, and it recently got him in a bit of trouble with fans of the New York Knicks.

Keep ReadingShow less
Donald Trump
Samuel Corum/Getty Images

Trump Plans To Attend The NBA Finals In New York—And Knicks Fans Are Having None Of It

The New York Knicks lead the NBA finals best of seven series against the San Antonio Spurs 2-0 going into game three at Madison Square Garden (MSG) in New York City on Monday night.

It will be the first finals game played at the historic venue in 27 years. Should the Knicks prevail in the series, it will be the team's first championship since 1973.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Hillary Clinton in 2016; Donald Trump
C-SPAN; Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

Hillary Clinton's 2016 Speech Predicting How Trump Would Behave As President Just Resurfaced—And Wow

People can't help but nod their heads after one of former Secretary of State and then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton's speeches from 2016 warning about how Donald Trump would act if elected president resurfaced and proved more relevant than ever.

The footage resurfaced as public sentiment has soured on the economy; recent surveys show that roughly two-thirds of Americans disapprove of Trump's economic stewardship, while a majority say their personal financial situation is deteriorating.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of James Talarico; Donald Trump; Ken Paxton
@jamestalarico/X; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images; Ron Jenkins/Getty Images

James Talarico Epically Blasts Trump And Senate Opponent Over What It Means To Be A 'Real Man'

Texas Senate candidate James Talarico criticized his opponent in November's election, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, as well as President Donald Trump in a speech about what it means to be a "real man" after facing regular attacks on his masculinity.

Trump has described Talarico as “a weird—a weird—candidate,” a line that was quickly incorporated into an advertisement from Paxton, who argued that that Talarico is unfit to represent Texans partly because of his supposed veganism. Members of the right-wing have followed suit and described Talarico as an “effeminate, estrogenetic, catty, and totally embarrassing” candidate.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jennifer Aniston (right) and Lisa Kudrow (left) discuss a potential Friends spinoff.
Variety/YouTub

Jennifer Aniston And Lisa Kudrow's Idea For A 'Friends' Spinoff Is Going Viral For All The Wrong Reasons

For decades, critics have argued that Friends benefited from a television landscape that often overlooked Black-led sitcoms telling similar stories. So when Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow recently floated the idea of a Friends spinoff called Girlfriends, many viewers saw it as yet another example of Black television history being left out of the conversation.

During Variety's Actors on Actors, Aniston and Kudrow discussed what a potential Friends revival could look like more than 20 years after the sitcom ended its original run.

Keep ReadingShow less