“I sat there, having just turned 19, on the precipice of what was promised to be the greatest moment of my life and held accountable [by the public] for allegations that not only had nothing to do with me, but about a situation that is believed to have taken place years prior,” actress Rachel Zegler told Elle Magazine of the allegation made by her West Side Story co-star Ansel Elgort sexually assaulted an underage woman when he was 20. Elgort has denied the allegation.
The actress said she feels the “inherent uneasiness that comes with realizing that there are tons of people who think you have to be accountable for the actions of a grown man [Elgort] who can speak for himself.”
The questions were not only misguided, Zegler claims, they were also insensitive. At the time of the film’s production, she was the same age as Elgort’s accusers when the alleged attack took place.
They “didn’t think about the fact that I was also 17 when I met this person [Elgort]17 when I worked with them, 17 and 18 when I had to do love scenes.” Elgort was 25 or 26 years old at the time of these scenes.
According to the actress, the result of the renewed inquiry into the allegations was retraumatizing.
“I went back to that brain area that I was in [back in] June 2020,” she said, “when the allegation surfaced. We were in the middle of the first lockdown wave, and there was nothing to do but doom scrolling. Those days were some of the worst mental days I’ve ever had.”
Photos: All the Oscar winners for best actress in the last 30+ years