Actress Michelle Trachtenberg on Thursday elaborated on allegations earlier this week that her “Buffy and the Vampire Slayer” boss was behaving insultingly on his “toxic” set.
Trachtenberg made the cryptic new allegations against creator Joss Whedon, 56, in an updated Instagram post: ‘The last one. Comments I will make on this. Wash. There was a rule. Saying. “He is not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again,” the 35-year-old wrote.
The actress was 15 when she landed the role of Dawn Summers, the younger sister of Sarah Michelle Gellar’s “Buffy,” which she played from 2000 to 2003. Trachtenberg, who later appeared in the CW’s “Gossip Girl”, did not succeed. explicit details about what led to the alleged rule – or who put it in place.
Trachtenberg’s allegations come after Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase, posted allegations of Whedon’s alleged ‘toxic’ and ‘hostile’ behavior. She also claimed he called her ‘fat’ during a one-on-one meeting when she was pregnant.
“Joss Whedon abused his power several times while working on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” Carpenter, 50, wrote. ‘While he found his misconduct amusing, it reinforced my performance anxiety, disempowered me and alienated me from my peers. The disturbing incidents caused a chronic physical condition that I still suffer from. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say that I have faced in isolation and sometimes destructively. ‘
Trachtenberg first came to the fore after Gellar, 43, responded to Carpenter’s viral message in a statement on Instagram linking him as a ‘survivor of abuse’.
“While I’m proud of my name associated with Buffy Summers, I do not want to be associated with the name Joss Whedon forever,” Gellar said. “… I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud that they have spoken out.”
Trachtenberg reacted to Gellar for the first time on Wednesday and wrote: “Thank you @ Sarahhmgellar for saying this. I’m brave enough now as a 35 year old woman … to put it again. Because. It must. Be familiar. As a teenager. With his inappropriate behavior … a lot. Not. Appropriate. ”
Reps for Whedon – who is currently working on ‘The Nevers’ for HBO – did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
The miracle worker in the industry first experienced a spate of negative press and the social media buzz after his ex-wife, architect Kai Cole, accused him of cheating on a fraudulent online essay for The Wrap in 2017.
Cole accuses the director of ‘multiple affairs’ of their 15-year marriage – claiming that the first of the alleged alliances was on the set of ‘Buffy’.
“He hid several issues and a number of inappropriate emotional issues he had with his actresses, co – workers, fans and friends while staying married to me,” Cole wrote.
“He deceived me for 15 years so he could have everything he wanted. I believed, everyone believed he was one of the good guys, dedicated to the fight for women’s rights, dedicated to our marriage and the women he worked with. ”
A thriving fans of Whedon fans after 15 years amid Cole’s claims, including her statement that ‘I now see how he used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one’s his relationships with other women would not question. or examine his writing as anything other than feminist. ”
Whedon and Cole met in 1991 and got married in 1995, a year before the production of ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ began, an important TV show starring a strong female hero that has often been touted as a defining feminist series. be considered.