Timothy Hutton has denied the accusations of the former Canadian model Sera Johnston
Oscar-winner Timothy Hutton has been accused of rape by a Canadian former model who claims the actor sexually assaulted her in the 1980s when she was 14. The actor, who was most recently in the Netflix series "Haunting of the Hill House" and biographical drama "Beautiful Boy", said he "completely and unequivocally denies" the claims and called it an attempt to extort money.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News, Sera Johnston has alleged that the veteran actor raped her in 1983 when she was a junior high school student in a Vancouver hotel room while another man looked on and participated.
Hutton was shooting the 1984 film "Iceman" and he and two friends began a conversation with her and two of her classmates. He then invited them back to his hotel to hang out, according to the new report.
When the girls returned to the actor's room, they were served drinks and Johnston said Hutton got close to her, brought her to his bedroom and raped her while a friend watched.
Johnston said she doesn't remember how she was led to the actor's bedroom, but said he asked whether she had ever had sex.
She said she initially told the men she was 17, then later admitted she was 14 years old. The age of consent in Canada is 16 years old now, but was 14 years old in 1983. There is no statute of limitations for sexual assault, misconduct or battery claims in Canada.
"I don’t think this is a good idea. I don’t think my mother would be too happy about this," the ex-model, who was also a working actor at the time, recalled saying to Hutton.
She said she wanted to leave. "To everything I would say, it was, 'It’ll be OK, it’ll be OK. It won’t last long, and you’ll be fine'," Johnston said. Johnston said she begged the men. "Please, don’t do this. I can’t do it. I can’t," she said, adding Hutton told her she would like it and that his friend was going to watch.
Johnston filed a criminal complaint with the Vancouver police late last year about the alleged incident. Lawyers for Hutton said Johnston's story is "fabricated" and contains "patently false, scurrilous, and defamatory statements".
In a statement, his lawyer said the actor, whose Fox series "Almost Family" concluded its first season in February, has never met Johnston at all.
"(He) will not spend one more minute dignifying these allegations as they are patently false and designed only to extort money from him. (Johnston) has provided salacious, heinous, and graphic details of this made-up sexual encounter that supposedly occurred 36 years ago. Although these were disgusting details any smut fiction writer could conjure up. There is no evidence to support them," Hutton said.
Johnston countered she was advised by one attorney to reach a settlement considering that she was within the legal age of consent at the time of the alleged incident.
She added Hutton agreed to an initial settlement of USD 135,000 (less than the USD 1.5 million her lawyer had suggested), but she later scrapped the deal.
The veteran actor has enlisted two law firms and three spokespeople to counter Johnston's claims. Hutton won the best supporting actor Academy Award in 1981 for his role in "Ordinary People".
