Academy Award winner Timothy Hutton has termed the allegations levelled by a former model accusing him of raping her when she was 14 years, as a baseless and mere tool of extracting money from him.
According to a news report published in Buzzfeed News 50-year-old model Sera Johnston, a former Canadian model, accused Hutton of raping her when she was just 14 years old, in 1983. Johnston said that she met Hutton on the sets of Iceman in Vancouver following which she along with two of her friends were invited to his hotel room in Denman Place Inn.
What happened during the incident?
In an interview with the BuzzFeed News Johnston spoke about the incident, which was reported to the Vancouver police department last year, said: "It was like we were entertaining them — cute. We were funny, you know what I mean?"
After offering drinks to Johnston and her friends, Hutton sat next to Johnston. "He was getting very close to me, like, you know, really kind of sidling up to me, and petting my legs and stuff. was just, like: I think this is going to be bad. I was really wrong about this," she said.
The former model further revealed that even though she doesn't remember how she entered Hutton's bedroom; she remembers him asking whether she ever had sex. Hutton's friend also came inside the bedroom. "I told them things like 'I don't think this is a good idea' and 'I don't think my mother would be too happy about this.' To everything I would say, it was, 'It'll be OK, it'll be OK. It won't last long, and you'll be fine,'" she said.
Johnston further revealed that despite her protests, both Hutton and his friend kept talking to her about what they were going to do while undressing her 'like a doll.' Johnston further added that when she protested saying 'Please, don't do this. I can't do it. I can't,' Hutton said that she would like it and his friend was going to watch. "It hurt like hell. I mean, it was very painful. God. Yeah, it was extremely painful. Horrible, horrible, absolutely horrible. At one point, Hutton went to get Vaseline as a lubricant," she revealed, adding that his friend forced oral sex on her.
Hutton claims he is a victim of multiple extortion attempts
Denying the rape accusations levelled against him Hutton said that he was a target of multiple extortion attempts by a woman named Sera Dale Johnston. Speaking to Deadline, Hutton said: "For the past two-and-a-half years, I have been the target of multiple extortion attempts by a woman named Sera Dale Johnston to extract millions of dollars from me. She threatened that if I did not meet her demands, she would go to the press with a false allegation that I sexually assaulted her 37 years ago in Canada.
"I will not stop fighting to expose this story for what it is – a failed extortion attempt based on something that never happened," added Hutton.
Hutton threatens to sue Johnston and BuzzFeed News
The Ordinary People star said that he never assaulted Johnston. "Today, BuzzFeed chose to publish Ms Johnston's false story. BuzzFeed knew the truth because they were provided with documented evidence. What's really going on here is that Ms Johnston's extortion attempts failed. She then decided to follow through on her threat to go to the press with her false story. When I became aware of this, I went to the FBI, signed a sworn statement, and filed a criminal complaint against Ms Johnston for extortion," he said.
In a statement issued later to IndieWire, Tom Clare, Hutton's counsel, said: "If BuzzFeed wrongfully refuses to retract the article, Tim is prepared to take any and all necessary steps, including the filing of a defamation lawsuit, to clear his name and to hold BuzzFeed and Ms. Johnston accountable for their reckless and self-serving efforts to destroy Tim's reputation and career."
