Noth denied the allegations, but said, “There’s nothing I can say to change anyone’s mind.”
Chris Noth has broken his silence on the sexual assault allegations against him that came out in late 2021 in his only interview given since the accusations. Speaking to USA Today, the former Sex and the City actor denied having assaulted anyone, maintaining that his only wrongdoing was cheating on his wife — and that the extramarital affairs he had were consensual.
“I strayed on my wife, and it’s devastating to her and not a very pretty picture,” he told USA Today. “What it isn’t is a crime.”
Noth said of his infidelity, “You give yourself the same excuses that many men do; it’s just a little side dance, and it’s fun. You’re not hurting anybody. No one’s going to know about this, you know, and sex is just enjoyable. And suddenly, a lot of people want to have sex with you. It’s like, ‘Well, I’m not going to get this chance again.'”
And while no criminal charges have been filed against the actor (according to RAINN, out of every 1,000 sexual assaults, 975 perpetrators walk free), Noth did speak on the possibility of civil lawsuits. “That’s a money train for a lot of people,” he said.
Expanding on his reluctance to comment on the allegations, Noth said, “There’s nothing I can say to change anyone’s mind when you have that kind of a tidal wave. It sounds defensive. I’m not. There’s no criminal court. There’s no criminal trial. There’s nothing for me to get on the stand about and get my story out, get witnesses. And there’s even more absurd add-ons that are completely ridiculous, that have absolutely no basis in fact.”
What were the allegations against Chris Noth?
In December 2021, The Hollywood Reporter published accounts from two women who said that Noth had sexually assaulted them. One of the women said she was raped by Noth in 2004 when she was 22 and working an entry-level job for “a high-profile firm where Noth and other celebrities regularly had business.” After the assault, a friend took her to the hospital, where police showed up but she ultimately declined to name Noth as her assailant, fearing she wouldn’t be believed or would be retaliated against professionally. She told her boss and her mother about the attack.
The other woman said she met Noth at the nightclub she was working at when she was 25 and he was 60. She says Noth “pretty forcibly” had sex with her at his apartment in 2015. She told a friend but declined to call the police.
At the time, Noth told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement, “The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago — no always means no — that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women.”
A few days later, a third woman came forward, telling The Daily Beast that Noth sexually assaulted her in 2010, when she was 18 and he was 55. She said he groped her and digitally penetrated her. She told her parents, some friends, and her employer.
Noth’s publicist told The Daily Beast that the actor “denies this as ever happening and has no idea who this woman is.”
Then, singer Lisa Gentile accused Noth of forcibly kissing and groping her in 2002, and Heather Kristin, who worked as Kristin Davis’s stand-in on Sex and the City , published an essay in The Independent where she discussed Noth’s “toxic behavior” on set.
What is Chris Noth doing now?
When the sexual assault allegations surfaced, there were immediate consequences to Noth’s career. He was cut from the season 1 finale of And Just Like That… (his character, Mr. Big, had died of a heart attack in the first episode but the plan was to include him in a fantasy sequence). He was also dropped from CBS’ The Equalizer and his talent agency. He lost a $12 million deal for his tequila brand and a Peloton commercial he appeared in was pulled. Given all that, you may think Noth is scraping by, but he still has an estimated net worth of $16 million. The actor told USA Today that he has no plans to stop working.
“I’m not going to lay down and just say it’s over,” he said. “It’s a salacious story, but it’s just not a true one. And I can’t just say ‘Well, OK, that’s it for me’ because of that. I’m an actor. I have other things that I want to do creatively. And I have children to support. I can’t just rest on my laurels. So yeah, I have enough to let a year drift, but I don’t know how to gauge or judge getting back into the club, the business, because corporations are frightened.”
Noth is now the face of bespoke suit company Samuelsohn, which has pledged to donate $100,000 to men’s mental health. Samuelsohn’s CEO Stephen Granovsky told USA Today of the choice to have Noth be the face of the campaign, “There just isn’t another character in modern times that looks better, feels better, is more proud to wear a suit than Chris was in Sex and the City. Today, many years later, he looks every bit as good. He wears it with such confidence and such pride that I’m proud to have him wear the suit.”
In addition to working with Samuelsohn (for which USA Today said he’s getting paid in clothing, not cash), Noth is directing and performing in Ionesco’s “Rhinoceros” at a theater in the Berkshires.
Noth told USA Today that since the allegations, he’s been taking care of his mental health by spending time with his family, hiking, and meditating. He’s had talks with his 15-year-old about the allegations but said his 3-year-old is too young to understand what happened.
