Molly Shannon Alleges Gary Coleman Sexually Harassed Her
In a recent interview on The Howard Stern Show, SNL star Molly Shannon alleged that the late TV actor Gary Coleman sexually harassed her.
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The beloved comedy actress and SNL Superstar Molly Shannon recently released a new memoir titled Hello, Molly! which recounts various moments of her life and career. Recently, in an interview on The Howard Stern Show, she talked about one particularly scary incident from the book, where she alleges that Gary Coleman sexually harassed her in his penthouse hotel room.
In Molly Shannon’s retelling of the alleged incident, she talks about how she signed with the same agent as Gary Coleman at some point in her career. She mentions how she was invited to meet Coleman and she went up to his hotel room with their agent. She said that once her agent left the room, things changed as Coleman allegedly became aggressive with attempts at sexual harassment. Initially, Shannon says that she tried to be polite and turn down the advances, saying she was a virgin. Shannon says how he would try to kiss her and get on top of her and that every time she threw him off her, he would get back on. She also said how after she locked herself in the bathroom, Coleman stuck his hands under the door saying “I can see you.”
Molly Shannon told Stern that she sprinted out of the room, told their agent to watch Coleman better and that she wished she could have done more to stand up for herself. Coleman was an actor best known for his role in Diff’rent Strokes and died in 2010 from intracranial hemorrhaging at the age of 42. The actor was notably short in stature, due to his stunted height from his kidney disease. Coleman’s representatives have yet to comment on Shannon’s allegations.
Molly Shannon’s Hello, Molly! memoir reveals some of the other traumatic incidents that have shaped her life as well, such as the car wreck her family got in that took the life of her mother, baby sister, and cousin when she was very young. Shannon revealed that the grief from this accident would help form her most beloved Saturday Night Live character, Mary Katherine Gallagher. She explains that Mary Catherine is a survivor that wants to be a star and that she wrote the character from her heart.
In addition to learning more about Molly Shannon’s life in her book, she also has a movie coming out soon called A Good Person where she co-stars alongside Florence Pugh, Morgan Freeman, and Celeste O’Connor. The movie follows a woman whose life falls apart after she is involved in a fatal accident. The movie is written and directed by Zach Braff. She will also be appearing in the upcoming TV show I Love That for You, which also stars Bess Armstrong and Vanessa Bayer. That series is set to premiere on April 29.
Molly Shannon’s book Hello, Molly! is currently getting great reviews and is being praised for its candid nature. Reviews point out that despite the struggles Shannon has faced, her book highlights the ability of her resiliency and humor to shine through. Hello, Molly! was released on April 12.
