News broke on Friday that “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Divergent” and “Baby Driver” star Ansel Elgort had been accused of sexual assault on Twitter according to both The Wrap and The Daily Mail.
A woman named Gabby, who did not reveal her last name, tweeted a lengthy statement claiming the actor, now 26, sexually assaulted her in 2014 when she had just turned 17 and he was 21. Gabby says she was a virgin at the time she and Elgort had sex and she was “sobbing in pain and I didn’t want to do it”. She alleges the only words that came out of his mouth in response were “we need to break you in.”
Gabby alleges she direct messaged Elgort in 2014 letting him know that it would soon be her 17th birthday and claims Elgort then gave her his private Snapchat account and asked for nude photos. She also alleges he wanted to have a threesome with her and one of her dance friends, and posted a photo of what appeared to be her sitting with Elgort as well as a screenshot of their direct message exchange.
Gabby says she did not reveal the claimed assault details earlier because Elgort told her they could “ruin his career”. She says she came forward now to share the story as years later she still experiences PTSD and panic attacks, and goes for therapy because of it. She also wants to let other girls who have had these kinds of experiences know that they are not alone: “It’s a lot for me to post this but I think it’s time I finally talk about my story of me being sexually assaulted. I need to heal and I want others to know they’re not alone.”
Gabby’s Twitter account has been in existence since 2014 and was initially set to ‘protected’ status but has apparently since been deleted. Numerous outlets asked Elgort’s representatives and managers for a response with nothing given until Elgort wrote in an Instagram response late on Saturday evening. In his response he says: “I cannot claim to understand Gabby’s feelings but her description of events is simply not what happened. I have never and would never assault anyone.”
He acknowledges that he and Gabby had a “brief, legal and entirely consensual relationship” in New York in 2014, and adds “unfortunately I did not handle the breakup well” and “stopped responding to her, which is an immature and cruel thing to do to someone.” His response is included in full below.
Elgort stars in Steven Spielberg’s upcoming “West Side Story” musical in the lead role with Disney planning a major release for the holiday season. He is also one of the leads in Michael Mann’s “Tokyo Vice” series for HBO Max which had begun filming a few weeks before the coronavirus pandemic hit. Neither Disney or HBO Max have released a statement.
