Sarah Michelle Gellar Says She’ll Never Expose Joss Whedon, Here’s Why
Sarah Michelle Gellar has said that she will never fully talk about Joss Whedon's behavior on the set of Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Sarah Michelle Gellar is returning to her supernatural roots in the new series Wolf Pack, which is causing her – and fans – to recall that other supernatural series she did back in the 1990s. Unfortunately, though, the memory of Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been tarnished recently by allegations that creator Joss Whedon was “toxic,” especially toward his female stars.
Gellar has made reference to this in the past, but according to an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she isn’t planning to go into any more details anytime soon. “I’ll never tell my full story because I don’t get anything out of it. I’ve said all I’m going to say because nobody wins. Everybody loses.”
After decades of staying tight-lipped on the issue, Sarah Michelle Gellar spoke out about Joss Whedon’s behavior for the first time in 2021, when she stood up for co-star Charisma Carpenter, who had called him out. “While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon,” she said.
Sarah Michelle Gellar mostly kept quiet on the topic again after that, until she made a comment during a different interview about Wolf Pack in 2022 about having had to work on an “extremely toxic male set” in the past. Although she didn’t name names, it is widely believed that she was talking about the set run by Joss Whedon.
Still, though, that’s likely all we’ll ever get out of her on the topic. When the interviewer for The Hollywood Reporter pressed her on it, she said that “I’ve come to a good place with it, where it’s easier to talk about,” but that there was no point in dishing out all the details because it wouldn’t help anyone.
Sarah Michelle Gellar’s husband, Freddie Prinze, Jr., had a bit more to say about Joss Whedon’s toxic working environment on her behalf, however. “The stuff they pressed upon her, without any credit or real salary, while she was often the only one doing 15-hour days… yet she was still able to get the message of that character out every single week and do it with pride and do it professionally,” he said.
Some of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s former co-stars also pointed out that Joss Whedon refused to give the actress the respect, acknowledgment, and support she needed and deserved to feel like a true leader on the show in which she starred.
Sarah Michelle Gellar hopes that this drama over Buffy won’t completely ruin audiences’ enjoyment of the series, though. While even the most loyal fans of the series are having trouble going back and rewatching it now, knowing what they know about Joss Whedon’s treatment of the actresses, Gellar said that this shouldn’t stop us from loving this great show. “Was it an ideal working situation? Absolutely not,” she said. “But it’s OK to love Buffy for what we created because I think it’s pretty spectacular.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar also thinks it’s important to set a good example and to create a fairer film and television industry for her daughter, Charlotte, who has caught the acting bug just like her famous parents. After years of staying out of the spotlight and living a quiet, cozy life as a normal, average family, Gellar decided to get back into acting when Charlotte got older. It was as a way to encourage her to follow her dreams as well as a way to get back to doing what she loves.
Wolf Pack drew her attention because while it may be about werewolves on the surface, it is really about the anxieties, fears, and feelings we all face as humans – something that reminded her of the positive side of Joss Whedon’s Buffy the Vampire series.
