Former news anchor Heather Unruh struggled to maintain her composure during a press conference in Boston Wednesday as she revealed it was her then-18-year-old son who was allegedly sexually assaulted by actor Kevin Spacey at a bar in Nantucket in 2016.
Unruh — who had previously accused the House of Cards star of assaulting someone “close to her” but had not previously elaborated or identified the alleged victim — appeared at the news conference alongside her attorneys as she outlined the details of the alleged incident.
The former anchor for Boston’s WCVB told reporters Wednesday that her son was 18 years old when he met Spacey at a Nantucket Island bar and restaurant in 2016.
“Kevin Spacey bought him drink after drink after drink and when my son was drunk Kevin Spacey made his move and sexually assaulted him,” Unruh told reporters.
“Spacey stuck his hand inside my son’s pants and grabbed his genitals. This was completely unexpected,” she added. “My son’s efforts to shift his body to remove Spacey’s hands were only momentarily successful.”
Unruh described the alleged incident as a “criminal act,” and said her son had clearly not given consent for the actor to touch him. The former anchor said her son had done his best to deal with what had allegedly happened to him, but “it’s always there.”
“Shame on you for what you did to my son,” she said at one point, directly addressing Spacey.
Spacey, 58, has been hit with multiple allegations of sexual misconduct in recent weeks as Hollywood and the broader entertainment and media industries have been rocked by a widespread sexual abuse scandal.
Allegations against Spacey first emerged after actor Anthony Rapp claimed in an interview this month that the actor had made a sexual advance against him at a party in New York City in 1986, when Rapp was 14 and Spacey was in his mid-twenties. In a statement posted to his Twitter account, Spacey apologized for the alleged incident, but said he could not remember it. The actor also came out as gay, a revelation that was widely criticized by LGBT advocacy groups and other gay actors for appearing to be an effort to deflect from the serious accusation.
In the wake of Rapp’s interview, other accusers have come forward, including actor Robert Cavazos, who claimed Spacey made unwanted sexual advances toward him while he worked as artistic director at London’s Old Vic Theatre.
In an interview with New York magazine’s Vulture this month, an unidentified man claimed that he had a sexual relationship with Spacey when he was a teenager, and that the relationship had ended when the actor allegedly attempted to rape him.
Additionally, eight staffers on the hit Netflix series House of Cards have since alleged that the actor had behaved inappropriately or had sexually harassed them numerous times while on set. Netflix announced Saturday that it would not move forward with production on the sixth and final season of House of Cards as long as Spacey was still attached to the series.
According to reports, Spacey is in Arizona, where he is reportedly seeking treatment at the same rehabilitation facility used by disgraced film mogul Harvey Weinstein, who has also been accused of of rape and sexual assault over a period of decades.
A representative for Spacey said last week that the actor was seeking “evaluation and treatment.”
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum
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