Numerous members of the former One Tree Hill staff have published an open letter detailing sexual harassment they experienced at the hands of the show’s creator and showrunner Mark Schwahn.
Details first started emerging over the weekend, when TV writer Audrey Wauchope accused Schwahn of sexually harassing her during the time she and her writing partner Rachel Specter worked on the teen drama (the show ran from 2003 to 2012). Since then, a number of OTH actresses have stepped forward in support of Wauchope on social media, including Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, and Bethany Joy Lenz.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bbdd_YFjWHm/
I have been angry for a decade. Today, my sisters take back what was rightfully ours. #burnitdownsis #fuckyoursorry https://t.co/QMZBzwqm7g
— Hilarie Burton Morgan (@HilarieBurton) November 14, 2017
https://twitter.com/BethanyJoyLenz/status/930319643624996866
https://twitter.com/BethanyJoyLenz/status/930354096439209984
The open letter, from Bush, Burton, Joy Lenz and fellow former OTH female cast and crew members, outlines what the workplace was like with Schwahn as their boss:
Many of us were, to varying degrees, manipulated psychologically and emotionally. More than one of us is still in treatment for post-traumatic stress. Many of us were put in uncomfortable positions and had to swiftly learn to fight back, sometimes physically, because it was made clear to us that the supervisors in the room were not the protectors they were supposed to be. Many of us were spoken to in ways that ran the spectrum from deeply upsetting, to traumatizing, to downright illegal. And a few of us were put in positions where we felt physically unsafe. More than one woman on our show had her career trajectory threatened.
Schwahn and the CW have not yet commented.
Just last month, Burton spoke out about sexually inappropriate behavior she experienced from Ben Affleck while working at TRL.