Ryan Seacrest Says Accuser Demanded $15 Million

Ryan Seacrest claims Suzie Hardy, the stylist who detailed her sexual abuse allegations against the E! News anchor, demanded $15 million from him before she went to Variety.

Seacrest’s lawyer, Andrew Baum, told The Wrap it was “upsetting” that Variety chose to publish Hardy’s “untrue allegations.”

“It is upsetting to us that Variety is electing to run a ‘story’ about untrue allegations that we were made against my client, after they were told that the accuser threatened to make those false claims against him unless he paid her $15 million,” Baum told The Wrap. “At that time, the claimant threatened to issue a demonstrably false press statement unless she was paid. Instead, my client proactively and publicly denied the claims and agreed to fully cooperate with E!’s investigation about the matter.”

Baum noted that E! Network said on Jan. 31 that their independent, third-party investigation ended without finding evidence to support Hardy’s claims.

“It’s telling that after my client [Seacrest] refused to pay her money, and the E! investigation resulted as it did, that she is now coming forward to share her debunked story to the press,” Baum said.

Back in November, Seacrest released a statement about a stylist coming forward, and denied the “reckless” allegations.

“If I made her feel anything but respected, I am truly sorry. I dispute these reckless allegations and I plan to cooperate with any corporate inquiries that may result,” Seacrest said at the time.

Then on Jan. 31, E! confirmed that a third-party investigation “found insufficient evidence to support the claims against Seacrest and therefore could not be substantiated.”

On Monday, Variety published excerpts from the November letter Hardy’s attorney sent to E!, Seacrest and NBCUniversal. In it, she claimed she faced abuse between 2006 and 2013, when she worked for the network. In 2013, she reported Seacrest to human resources after they approached her. When she detailed what he allegedly did to her, they let her go two weeks later, she said.

Variety also spoke to Hardy, who described the incidents in graphic detail. She said she stayed at the network out of fear of being able to support her child.

“I came from a freelance life, and it was scary,” she said. “It was hard to raise a child and not know where your next check was going to come from, and if that gig was going to take me out of town for two weeks. It was a better deal all the way around, even if I was being abused. It’s sick to say, but it was true.”

Hardy also told Variety that she felt the investigator “was whitewashing it for Seacrest’s side.”

However, E! defended the investigation.

“E!’s investigation was extremely comprehensive and thorough,” an E! spokesperson told Variety. “Over the course of a two month process, our outside counsel interviewed more than two dozen people regarding the allegations, including multiple separate meetings with the claimant. The investigator is an attorney with nearly 20 years experience and is highly regarded professionally. Any claims that question the legitimacy of this investigation are completely baseless.”