I wrote a couple of weeks ago that actress Ruth Wilson’s abrupt exit from Showtime’s “The Affair” may have been about pay parity. Wilson had complained about being paid less than her male co-stars last winter. Then her character, Allison, was killed off the series despite Wilson having won a Golden Globe and being the central character in the story. Suddenly, she was gone.
Now I can tell you that whatever happened to Wilson on “The Affair” was not about pay parity. It was about #Metoo. I am told that an incident on set led to her demand to be let out of her contract. The incident did not involve either of her male co-stars, Joshua Jackson or Dominic West. But it happened while this past season was shooting. Allison’s murder had to be invented to accommodate Wilson’s quick departure.
But Wilson’s problem on “The Affair” was not singular to her. In January, an actress named Ashlynn Alexander filed a sexual harassment suit against Showtime and “The Affair.” Alexander worked on many episodes of “The Affair” as Wilson’s stand in. She claims that after being sexually harassed by assistant director Travis Rehwaldt she complained to the production and was let go five days later.
According to Alexander’s complaint, Rehwaldt had listed her on the call sheet for shooting on September 17, 2015 as “Allison Sexytime Double.”
“When Ms. Alexander asked for an explanation for her termination, she was told that she did not have a good hair match with Wilson and “The Affair” was looking for someone else to fill her former role. Ms. Alexander knew that this was untrue, since she had been wearing a wig for the duration of her work as Wilson’s body double, without issue. The actress hired to replace Ms. Alexander, Stephanie Corbett, also wears a wig in order to properly match Wilson’s hair.”
