A former assistant to Vin Diesel sued the actor on Thursday, alleging he pushed her against a wall in a hotel suite in 2010 and masturbated in front of her.
Asta Jonasson claims she was working for the actor in Atlanta, where he was filming “Fast Five,” when he took her to his suite at the St. Regis Hotel and forced her onto his bed.
According to the lawsuit, she asked him to stop and went to the door, but he came up to her and began groping her breasts and kissing her. He tried to pull down her underwear and she screamed and ran toward the bathroom, the suit says.
Jonasson claims Diesel pushed himself against the wall and forced her to touch his erect penis, then began masturbating.
“Unable to escape, Ms. Jonasson closed her eyes, fearful of upsetting Vin Diesel by rejecting him further and attempting to distance herself, wishing the attack would end,” the lawsuit states.
Hours later, Samantha Vincent, Diesel's sister and president of his company, called Jonasson and fired her, according to the lawsuit.
“It was clear to her that she was fired because she was no longer useful – Vin Diesel had used her to fulfill his sexual desires and she had resisted his sexual assaults,” the lawsuit says. “MS. Jonasson felt like she was a piece of trash to be disposed of. Ms. Jonasson felt helpless, her self-esteem was destroyed and she questioned her own abilities and wondered if a successful career would require that she would trade her body for advancement.”
Diesel representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Jonasson filed the sexual harassment lawsuit under California's Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, a 2022 law that provided a one-year window for filing certain lawsuits that would otherwise be outside the statute of limitations. For the lawsuit to be admissible, the defendant must have attempted to cover up at least one prior allegation of sexual assault.
The lawsuit alleges that Jonasson was propositioned by another supervisor at his company, One Race, a few days before the diesel incident. According to the complaint, the supervisor called her into his hotel room at the St. Regis, took off his shirt, got into bed and said, “Come here.”
“Horrified, Ms. Jonasson immediately left the room and the hotel,” the lawsuit says.
In addition to allegations of sexual harassment, the lawsuit also makes allegations of gender discrimination, wrongful termination, retaliation and negligent supervision.
Vanity Fair first reported the lawsuit.
