Busy Philipps says in her new book that James Franco once threw her to the ground during the filming of their teen dramedy “Freaks and Geeks” in 1999, Radar Online reports.
Radar said that in her book “This Will Only Hurt a Little,” Philipps said she was left flat on her back, with the “wind knocked out” of her. In the scene, her character was to hit Franco’s character in the chest as she delivered a line. But Philipps said that when she did, Franco threw her to the ground, Radar said.
“He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, ‘DON’T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!’” she wrote in the book, according to Radar. “And he threw me to the ground. Flat on my back. Wind knocked out of me.” She also wrote that Franco was a “f—ing bully.”
According to the site, Philipps wrote that bystanders on set were horrified and that her co-star Linda Cardellini suggested she tell her manager about the incident. Franco apologized the next day after being told to do so by the director and producers, Philipps wrote.
A rep for Franco did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment on Monday, nor did a rep for Philipps or the publisher, Simon & Schuster.
Franco was accused by five women of sexually exploitative or inappropriate behavior, the Los Angeles Times reported in January. At the time, his attorney, Michael Plonsker, disputed the women’s accusations to the Times.
Philipps also says in the memoir she was sexually assaulted as a teenager, and said last week on Ellen Degeneres’ talk show that she wanted to share more than just “fun, Hollywood stories” in the book.
“I’ve been kind of waiting my whole life for someone to ask me to write a book about myself,” Philipps said. “But I did want to have it be a little bit revealing because I feel like, you know there are the fun, Hollywood stories — I’ve been an actor in this business since I was 19 years old — and there’s all that fun stuff, but I also was really interested in where I came from and sort of the harder things in my life that I’ve faced and I wanted to put that in there for people as well.”
“This Will Only Hurt a Little” is out on Oct. 16.