NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A former film and TV costume designer has accused "Entourage" star Kevin Connolly of sexually assaulting her at an East Village lounge in 2005.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Gracie Cox alleges that Connolly -- who grew up in Medford on Long Island -- attacked her at a wrap party for "The Gardener of Eden," which marked his directorial debut. His best friend Leonardo DiCaprio produced the film, which centers around a man who becomes a vigilante after catching a serial rapist in the act.
Connolly, 46, said he did not assault Cox, describing their interaction as a "consensual encounter."
Cox, who has worked on "Gossip Girl," "The Good Wife" and "Orange Is The New Black," said Connolly was flirty with her once she began working on the film.
"I was around the set every day," she told The Daily Beast. "Kevin was friendly and mildly flirtatious but I just laughed it off and didn’t take it too seriously. I wasn’t interested but he was the director, so I was cordial. There was nothing that made me fearful though, it just made me a little uncomfortable, because he was my boss. So not acknowledging the smiles or comments didn’t feel like an option."
Cox added, "I was pretty surprised by all of it. He was dating Nicky Hilton and I'm this sort of shy woman who wears vintage clothes."
According to The Daily Beast, it spoke with two of Cox’s friends who remember her complaining about Connolly’s behavior.
Fast forward to the "The Gardener of Eden" wrap party in December 2005 at the now-shuttered hotspot Butter, on Lafayette Street near Astor Place.
"My department had gone out to dinner prior to the party," said Cox, then 29 years old, also around the same age as Connolly then. "We were at the party and I don’t think I'd been there for more than an hour or so when Kevin approached me and asked if I’d go with him for a smoke."
Cox, who said she had been drinking, added, "I didn’t smoke but didn't want to seem rude. This was the first social setting I'd been in with him, other than being on set. He led me down a hall to what I guess was the VIP lounge area. As soon as we were alone in that area, he started to kiss me. I didn't know how to respond—but before I could even think about what to do about it, he pulled me into one of these little side (booths), and pulled down my pants, and turned me around, and within no time was inside of me. I was just in shock."
An emotional Cox told The Daily Beast, "There was not really a chance in my mind to object or resist. It just happened really fast. I froze and was in shock. Nothing like that had ever happened to me before in any way, shape or form. I was completely caught off-guard.”
Connolly ejaculated, and he was not wearing a condom, Cox said.
Then, she said, he did something she'll "never forget."
"He took a pillow off of a couch, threw it at me, and told me to 'clean myself up.' He then told me that he was going to leave and to wait a few minutes, because he didn't want anyone to see us together," she said.
The Daily Beast spoke to four friends of Cox's who said she told them about the alleged assault within days of the party.
"She told me within days of it happening," said Bessie Gantt, a longtime friend. "We were hanging out at her place, like usual, and she said ‘something really weird happened.' I remember her saying that she had been drinking, they were at this party, and he said ‘come with me to this back room, I want to show you something.' They were alone in this back-room space, and basically, he just flipped her over and shoved it in and didn’t talk or get consent or check in with her or anything. It was really weird. He just lured her back there and did that. He knew what he was doing, she didn’t, and she just kind of froze. And it was at the wrap party and he was the boss, and she’d been drinking. She felt like he'd raped her.”
Connolly issued a statement through his lawyer Marty Singer denying he assaulted her. In part, it read the following:
Today, Cox is a children's therapist in her native South Carolina.
"I work as a therapist treating children's mental health," she says. "All of my clients are from under-resourced communities of color, so the work is very different. A lot of my clients are trauma survivors, so I feel my own experience has helped me inform the work I’m doing now. And I’m happy to be doing it."
As for Connolly, she said, "I want it to be known that he is dangerous,” she says, “and I want him to not get away with it any longer."