After three women accused actor Ed Westwick of sexual assault and the LAPD opened an investigation of him, Westwick’s former Gossip Girl costar and ex-girlfriend Jessica Szohr has addressed the allegations in an interview with Cosmopolitan. In case you’re looking for a tidy answer from the actress, Szohr clearly struggled in sharing her perspective of the accusations.
“It’s a difficult subject right now for anyone that’s involved on either side,” Szohr said. “I don’t even really know how to answer it, if I should, because I don’t want anything to get twisted.”
Seeing as Lena Dunham recently came under fire for defending a Girls writer accused of sexual assault, acquaintances of the accused can find themselves in a difficult situation. The person they know may present an entirely different side to them than what the abused or others see, and Szohr definitely understood this challenge when asked about the allegations made against Westwick.
“It’s difficult, because you don’t want someone you know to go through that or do that to someone,” Szohr said. “It’s a touchy, tough thing that you pray it’s not true and…outside of even him…I’m glad that there’s notice being put on it for women that are going through it.”
A substantial amount of the conversation covered Westwick, and also revealed that Szohr has spoken to her friend since allegations broke. “I’m really trying to answer this as open and nicely as I can,” she said, “because it is touchy, and I obviously, for any of these situations, wasn’t there…so I can’t say it did or didn’t happen. But I know him well and I’ve known him for years, and I found it shocking. And I hope it’s untrue, but I also feel bad for anyone that’s been in that situation, for the women that have to deal with that, for the situations that are true.”
Westwick has publicly denied the first two women’s accusations. Following the allegations, his BBC miniseries was put on hold “until these matters are resolved.” Szohr also alluded to Westwick currently “going through a difficult time.” “I have to be so careful, because it’s not my situation and…I wasn’t there,” she told Cosmopolitan. “So it’s hard to speak on behalf of those girls or him.”
Later in the interview, Szor seemed even more emotionally torn, telling the journalist, “I’m so sorry…this could get very sticky if this gets printed and my words get twisted. It’s not [going to be] great.”
Outside of the interview, Szohr has not publicly commented on the sexual abuse allegations made against Westwick.