Chloe Dykstra spoke out on Wednesday to thank her supporters after seeming to accuse her ex-boyfriend Chris Hardwick of abuse.
In a lengthy Twitter message, Dykstra also said that she hopes “that women and men on both sides of abuse will make changes.”
“It is my hope, and it always was, that women and men on both sides of abuse will make changes to either protect themselves, or to stop the cycle of pain their own behavior can cause,” Dykstra wrote. “These behaviors are insidious and often hard to spot – we make excuses for them and, bit by bit, we can lose ourselves entirely.”
Dykstra added that she hoped that everyone personally affected by her story can “find their own closure, through the support of loved ones and friends, the way I have. In addition, my heart goes out to those caught in the fallout.”
She concluded, “Having been able to lift from my shoulders that which was weighing me down, I’m ready to move forwards [sic] in my life, finally, instead of looking back with fear and sadness.”
Dykstra seemed to accuse Hardwick of abuse in a Medium post published on Friday, in which she said that an ex had abused her mentally and sexually during their three-year relationship, and that he tried to derail her career after they broke up four years ago. Though she did not name identify Hardwick by name in the post, the timing and key details suggested that she was referring to the former “@Midnight” host and Comic-Con mainstay.
In a carefully worded statement released late last week, Chris Hardwick said he is “heartbroken” and “devastated” over Dykstra’s accusations — and insisted that “at no time did I sexually assault her.”
“These are very serious allegations and not to be taken lightly which is why I’ve taken the day to consider how to respond. I was heartbroken to read Chloe’s post,” Hardwick’s statement began. “Our three year relationship was not perfect — we were ultimately not a good match and argued — even shouted at each other — but I loved her, and did my best to uplift and support her as a partner and companion in any way and at no time did I sexually assault her.”
Soon after the accusations became widely known, Hardwick’s name was scrubbed from the Nerdist website. Hardwick co-founded Nerdist in February 2012, and the company was sold to Legendary Entertainment in July of that year.
AMC also pulled “Talking With Chris Hardwick from its schedule, saying in a statement, “”We have had a positive working relationship with Chris Hardwick for many years. We take the troubling allegations that surfaced yesterday very seriously … While we assess the situation, ‘Talking With Chris Hardwick’ will not air on AMC, and Chris has decided to step aside from moderating planned AMC and BBC America panels at Comic-Con International in San Diego next month.”
Read Dykstra’s full post below.
Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. pic.twitter.com/giXmp2wb9V
— Chloe Dykstra (@skydart) June 20, 2018