Brendan Fraser says he became depressed after former Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Philip Berk allegedly groped him in 2003.
The 49-year-old actor, famous for his films throughout the 1990s, said the sexual misconduct occurred during a luncheon held by the HFPA at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
“His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around,” Fraser says in a new GQ interview. “I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.”
Berk, who told GQ Fraser’s account is a “total fabrication,” has told his side of the story in the past saying that he pinched the actor’s butt as a joke.
Fraser says he didn’t go public at the time because he didn’t want to damage his career. He told his wife at the time about the incident and reached out to the HFPA asking for an apology. Berk sent an apology, but says he didn’t admit to any wrongdoing.
“I became depressed,” Fraser told the magazine. “I was blaming myself and I was miserable — because I was saying, ‘This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.’”
He also says the #MeToo and “Time’s Up” movement has made him ready to talk about it.
“I know Rose [McGowan], I know Ashley [Judd], I know Mira [Sorvino] — I’ve worked with them. I call them friends in my mind. I haven’t spoken to them in years, but they’re my friends,” he said. “I watched this wonderful movement, these people with the courage to say what I didn’t have the courage to say.”
He continued, “And maybe I am over-reacting in terms of what the instance was. I just know what my truth is. And it’s what I just spoke to you.”
The HFPA declined to comment on GQ’s article.