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Actor Ed Westwick has been accused of raping actor Kristina Cohen at his apartment three years ago.
Cohen wrote on Facebook that she and a producer she was dating at the time went to visit Westwick, who featured in hit series Gossip Girl and comedy series White Gold, but said she wanted to leave when "Ed suggested we should all f***".
The actor, who starred in Greek and Californication, said the pair ended up staying for dinner so that the producer could "smooth everything over," since he did not want to make Westwick feel awkward by leaving.
Cohen said she was tired and, at Westwick's suggestion, went to take a nap in the guest bedroom before she was woken up to the actor on top of her.
"I told him to stop, but he was strong. I fought him off as hard as I could but he grabbed my face in his hands, shaking me, telling me he wanted to f*** me," she wrote.
"I was paralysed, terrified. I couldn't speak, I could no longer move. He held me down and raped me."
She said the ordeal was a nightmare, writing that the producer blamed her for the assault and claimed that her career would be ruined if she said anything.
Westwick responded to the allegations, writing that he "does not know this woman" in a statement released on his Twitter page.
"I have never forced myself in any manner, on any woman," he said.
Cohen said she decided to come forward in light of dozens of other women sharing their stories of sexual assault.
Among those recently accused of sexual assault and sexual harassment are movie mogul Harvey Weinstein and several other Hollywood figures.
"I hope my coming forward will help others to know that they are not alone, that they are not to blame, and it is not their fault," she wrote.
"Just as the other women and men coming forward have helped me to realise the same.
"I hope that my stories and the stories of others help to reset and realign the toxic environments and power imbalances that have created these monsters."
Topics: actor, arts-and-entertainment, television, community-and-society, united-states