Chris Noth denies new sexual assault allegations: 'The encounters were consensual'

Chris Noth is facing allegations of sexual assault on two separate occasions, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday (Dec. 16).

"Zoe, now 40, and Lily, now 31, both allege they were sexually assaulted by actor Chris Noth," THR's Kim Masters relayed. "The two women—who approached The Hollywood Reporter separately, months apart, and who do not know each other—said promotions and press reports of HBO Max’s Sex and the City sequel series And Just Like That, in which Noth reprises his role as Mr. Big, stirred painful memories of incidents they say occurred in Los Angeles in 2004 and in New York in 2015, respectively. To protect their privacy, THR is allowing both women to use pseudonyms."

Noth, 67, denied the allegations to THR: "The accusations against me made by individuals I met years, even decades, ago are categorically false. These stories could’ve been from 30 years ago or 30 days ago—no always means no—that is a line I did not cross. The encounters were consensual. It’s difficult not to question the timing of these stories coming out. I don’t know for certain why they are surfacing now, but I do know this: I did not assault these women."

Note: The below allegations could be triggering to some.

Zoe recounted that as a 22-year-old working entry-level at a high-profile Los Angeles firm in 2004, Noth often flirted with her—going so far as to allegedly getting her phone number from the directory and leaving her messages on her work phone. Eventually, in August 2004, Zoe and a friend accepted Noth's invitation to the pool at a West Hollywood apartment building. When Zoe went to return a book to him at his apartment, he kissed her then "pulled her toward him, moved her toward the bed, pulled off her shorts and bikini bottom, and began to rape her from behind."

Zoe recalled that she went to Cedars-Sinai and "told staff she had been assaulted" but did not tell police officers she had been assaulted out of fear of retribution. Zoe later sought treatment in 2006 at the UCLA Rape Crisis Center.

Lily's account came in 2015, when she was a 25-year-old server in the VIP section of the since-closed No. 8 nightclub in New York. "I was truly star-struck," Lily told THR. "He was hitting on me, for sure. I was flattered. I knew he was married, which is shameful of me to admit." 

Lily said Noth asked her to dinner at Il Cantinori, and she remembered having too much to drink but "nowhere near blacking out" when Noth invited her to his apartment. There, she recalled, Noth forced himself on her—"trying and trying and trying" to make out with her before he "thrust his penis into her mouth" and had sex with her from the back in a chair. "I was kind of crying as it happened," she told THR.

"The Sex and the City" limited series revival "And Just Like That..." premiered last Thursday. Mr. Big, whom Noth has portrayed since "SATC" debuted in 1998, dies in the opening episode from a heart attack.