A tree hill alum, Hilarie Burton detailed her traumatic experience on the show during the latest episode of the theater queens podcast, which she co-hosts with Bethany Joy Lenz and Sophia Bush, via Variety.
In Wednesday’s episode, the actress claimed her co-star Chad Michael Murray confronted the man, whose name she did not reveal, after he allegedly “[bed her] in front of other people.
“Chad walked over and said, ‘What are you doing? He said that to our boss in the bar,” she said, noting that the 41-year-old actor had “nothing to lose.”
She continued, “He saw our boss grab me in front of a lot of people, and you know, Chad had nothing to lose because he knew our boss hated him anyway.
“A lot of people had a lot to lose, so you don’t talk when you have a lot to lose. But [our boss] felt so comfortable that it wasn’t something he had a problem with. [He thought]’I can do whatever I want to her in public with her boyfriend standing there.'”
Bush, 40, agreed, saying Murray was “protected as No. 1 on the call sheet.”
“He had the most power, so he could come and push our boss off you and fight. And I’m glad he did. I want everyone to follow this path,” she said. “Thank goodness, Hilarie, that you had this moment with Chad, who was already so at odds with our boss.”
Burton, who was one of 18 women on the show who accused creator Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment. On the podcast, she claimed the anonymous boss assaulted her on a robbery and on a car ride after a trip to Honey Grove, Texas for OTH Season 4 Episode 17 .
In August 2021, Burton praised Murray for “defending[ing]before they both left the show in Season 6. “We were both treated badly, and…Chad was my teammate,” she tweeted at the time. “My bosses were the s-ts.”