Law & Order Star Accused Of Sexual Assault
One of the stars of Law & Order has been accused of sexual assault.
This article is more than 2 years old
Chris Noth — who played Detective Mike Logan as part of the original cast of Law & Order and went on to reprise the role in Law & Order: Criminal Intent — has been accused of sexually assaulting two women. The alleged attacks took place 9 years apart. Noth has come out swinging, and denies the accusations.
According to The Hollywood Reporter (THR), both women approached the magazine separately, months apart, and neither of the women have met the other. Both women say their trauma responses were triggered because of the promotion of HBO Max’s Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That… in which Chris Noth reprises his role as Mr. Big. THR refers to the women as Zoe and Lily in order to protect their anonymity.
THR says they reached out to Noth for a statement, and the Law & Order actor responded. He called the allegations from Zoe and Lily “categorically false.” After pointing out how long ago the allegations dated back to, Noth went on to say, “These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual.” He also made a not-so-subtle implication that he thought there was an ulterior motive behind the allegations. “It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”
Lily was the first to approach THR in August. She claims Noth — who she’d been a big fan of as far back as his early days of Law & Order — assaulted her in New York City in 2015, when she was working as a server in the VIP section of a night club. She said she was starstruck and extremely flattered by the attention she received from Noth, in spite of their age difference (she was 25 and he was 60) and the fact that she knew he was married. She said she agreed to have dinner with Noth, but when she arrived at the restaurant, the kitchen was closed and the actor was drinking at the bar. After drinks, she agreed to go back to his apartment, where the alleged assault took place.
Lily pointed out she had not been very sexually active at that point and that — while she found it “humiliating” to admit — she did not think he invited her to his apartment for sex. She said that at one point during the alleged assault she mentioned Noth’s wife and child. According to Lily, the actor responded, “Marriage is a sham. Monogamy is not real.”
Zoe was the second woman to approach THR. In October she told the magazine the former Law & Order star assaulted her in Los Angeles in 2004, when she was 22. She said she was working at a high profile firm that did business with Chris Noth. Zoe claimed he would regularly flirt with her when he walked by her desk, and at one point got ahold of her work number and started leaving her voicemails. The actor eventually invited her to an apartment building in West Hollywood, where Zoe said he flattered her by asking her to look at a book he was thinking about turning into a screen project. She claimed he assaulted her when she went to his apartment to return the book. Zoe says she yelled at Noth to stop. She claims that when he didn’t stop, she asked him to “at least get a condom.” In response, according to Zoe, he laughed at her.
In both cases, THR spoke to personal and professional acquaintances who backed up parts of their stories. Zoe’s ex-boss said when Zoe called her and told her about the alleged assault. The ex-boss said she agreed to not tell anyone about what Zoe had said, pointing out she was 25 at the time and that she was in shock after her employee’s call. Lily’s friend Alex said she cautioned Lily about going to dinner with Noth, saying she “didn’t have a great feeling about it.”
