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‘One Tree Hill’ Creator Accused of Sexual Harassment by Show Writer

TV writer Audrey Wauchope accused One Tree Hill and The Royals creator Mark Schwahn of sexual […]

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TV writer Audrey Wauchope accused One Tree Hill and The Royals creator Mark Schwahn of sexual harassment when she was working on One Tree Hill with her writing partner Rachel Specter.

Wauchope, who now works on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend said she was inspired to come forward after The Flash creator Andrew Kriesberg was suspended for alleged sexual harassment.

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Wauchope tweeted about the alleged harassment over the weekend. Although she didn’t name Schwahn, she mentioned that the man was the showrunner for the first show she was hired for, which was One Tree Hill. Sources told Deadline she was talking about the producer.

She claims Schwahn left her and Specter “demoralzied and confused” by the time they left One Tree Hill.

“To say we were excited was an understatement,” Wauchope wrote. “To say we left that job demoralized and confused is also an understatement. One of the 1st things we were told was that the showrunner hired female writers on the basis of their looks. That’s why you’re here – he wants to f*** you.”

Wauchope wrote that they were told Schwahn talked about Specter in terms of her looks, not her talent.

“Imagine feeling for the rest of your career that you’re possibly an imposter – that maybe just maybe you’re only here because you’re a body, not a mind. It creeps into your thoughts and keeps you up at night and makes you wonder,” she wrote.

She claims other men in the room would sit next to him to help the other women writers, who did not want to sit near Schwahn.

“Sometimes we wouldn’t luck out and he’d just squeeze his disgusting body in between us and put his arms around us, grinning. He pet hair. He massaged shoulders. I know he did more but not to me so they’re not my stories to share,” she wrote. “Ever since then I just state ‘I don’t like to be touched.’ This often makes me sound angry or not warm. It’s just that I don’t know anther way to make it clear I don’t enjoy your unwanted touch.”

Schwahn once showed the male writers nude photos of an actress he was having an affair with, Wauchope wrote. In another case, he allegedly stopped Specter from leaving his office when she was leaving for her wedding and asked if she wanted to go through with it. She also claims Schwahn didn’t attend a mandatory sexual harassment hearing.

“I write all this to say that there are trickle down psychological effects to all this bullshit and the town is littered with the collateral damage of abusers who have been given free reign. If you’re sitting on one of these staffs please know whatever you are feeling is real,” Wauchope wrote.

“We are monitoring the information carefully,” the companies behind The Royals, which Schwahn is still working on, told Deadline. “E!, Universal Cable Productions and Lionsgate Television are committed to providing a safe working environment in which everyone is treated respectfully and professionally.”

Meanwhile, One Tree Hill actresses Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton and Bethany Joy Lenz all voiced support for Wauchope.

Specter also tweeted support for her writing partner.

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