Selma Blair has revisited a terrifying encounter with filmmaker James Toback, alleging that he threatened her into silence after pressuring her to remove her clothes early in her career. She discussed the experience during an appearance on “The Jenny McCarthy Show.”
As Fox News reported [1], the “Cruel Intentions” actress recorded the podcast episode before her arrest earlier this month. Blair described Toback, a screenwriter who received an Oscar nomination, as a frightening presence during her early years in Hollywood.
“He really put the fear of God in me in my early 20s,” Blair told Jenny McCarthy. She also called Toback “really, really scary.”
Blair recalled an encounter in which Toback allegedly pressured her to remove her clothes while performing a monologue. According to Blair, he presented the request as something intended to help develop her acting abilities.
“I took my clothes off,” Blair recalled. “It was horrifying.”
She said Toback instructed her to “do the monologue naked,” even though she felt deeply uncomfortable with the situation. “I was really uncomfortable,” Blair said. “It was really traumatic.”
Blair explained that she initially thought the filmmaker was attempting to improve her performance rather than making a sexual advance. “I was scared, and I was a people pleaser,” she admitted.
The actress also alleged that Toback made disparaging comments about her appearance, including remarks about her hips. “How dare you? Like, how are you going to make someone feel bad?” Blair recalled thinking.
Blair said an alleged threat from Toback kept her from publicly discussing the experience for years. She recalled his words in stark detail and said she believed he could carry out the threat.
“He said, ‘You know, if you ever tell a soul, I’ll gouge your eyes out with a Bic pen.’ And I believed it and I kept quiet.”
Blair’s allegations were among those examined in a 2017 Los Angeles Times investigation by reporter Glenn Whipp. The initial report detailed sexual harassment allegations from 38 women against Toback.
Those women described encounters in which the filmmaker allegedly used promises of acting opportunities to begin sexually inappropriate interactions. Blair first participated in the investigation as an anonymous source.
There seem to be a lot of similarities between James Toback & Harvey Weinstein.
Did Toback donate to democrats, too?
#SundayMorning https://t.co/Etp6Xk5bJQ— ThePersistence (@ScottPresler) October 22, 2017 [3]
According to subsequent reporting by the Los Angeles Times, the number of women accusing Toback eventually grew to more than 300. Blair said she decided to reveal her identity after learning that Toback had disputed the women’s accounts.
“When I found out he called all these women liars … I was like, oh no, I can’t stand for that,” Blair told McCarthy. She added, “I will no longer be anonymous because he’s not going to do that.”
In October 2017, Blair and fellow actress Rachel McAdams publicly detailed their allegations against Toback during an interview with Vanity Fair. Toback denied the sexual misconduct allegations reported by the Los Angeles Times at the time.
Toback said he either had not met the women or did not remember the encounters they described. Reflecting on what she said she endured, Blair expressed anger and distress about the experience.
“It was all awful. It was so upsetting and awful,” Blair said. She also addressed women who might encounter similar pressure in the entertainment industry, telling them, “You don’t have to do it. You don’t have to do it.”
The podcast episode was filmed before Blair’s arrest [4] earlier this month. Blair, who publicly revealed in 2018 that she had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, was arrested and arraigned on two counts of second-degree assault.
The charges stem from accusations that Blair assaulted a nurse and a police officer following an incident involving crew members aboard a Delta Air Lines flight to New York City. Blair pleaded not guilty to both counts.
A judge set bail at $20,000 cash, $60,000 bond, or a $60,000 partially secured bond. Blair is expected to return to court in January 2027.