Actor, James Franco, has been accused of physical assault by his former co-star, Busy Phillips.
The pair starred in the cult 90's television show, Freaks and Geeks, together, which is where the alleged incident occurred.
The actress, who has since gone onto star in Cougar Town and I Feel Pretty, has a memoir coming out this week, titled This Will Only Hurt a Little. In it, Phillips recalls a scene in Freaks and Geeks where she lightly hit Franco, and he was caught "off guard".
Playing Kim Kelly, the on-again-off-again love interest to Franco's Daniel Desario, the New York Post reports that the line Phillips said was "Dammit Daniel, do SOMETHING", and that it was to be delivered while hitting his chest.
"He grabbed both my arms and screamed in my face, 'DON'T EVER TOUCH ME AGAIN!'" she claims in the book.
Phillips then goes onto state that the cast and crew were horrified, with her co-star and friend Linda Cardellini suggesting that she contact her manager after "sobbing" in her trailer.
Franco reportedly apologised the following day, after he was told to do so by directors and producers. Aside from that, Phillips says that Franco was not given any further punishment. "James was full of bad behaviour, so why would this be treated any differently," she wrote.
This is not the first time that Phillips has spoken about the incident. Back in 2016, while appearing on Watch What Happens Live, she told host Andy Cohen that although she and Franco are now amicable, there was ongoing tension while filming the teen comedy-drama.
"He felt like he wanted his character to be one way. He had had a discussion with the producers that he came from an abused family or something, and so he didn’t want his girlfriend — I played his girlfriend — to ever physically hit him," she said.
"I never knew this conversation existed, and in an improv, I smacked him on the thing, and he was like, 'Don’t ever touch me,' and grabbed me and shoved me to the ground. It was an overreaction by a 19-year-old dude. And it was weird and people’s agents had to be called and he had to apologize to me."
