West Side Story’s Rachel Zegler Says Being Forced to Comment on Co-Star Ansel Elgort’s Sexual Assault Allegations ‘Was a Real Gut Punch’

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West Side Story star Rachel Zegler has opened up about having to comment on the sexual assault allegations her co-star Ansel Elgort faced in 2020.

“It was a real gut punch, honestly,” Zegler said of being asked to answer for Elgort in a recent interview with Elle. “I reverted back to this brain space I was in [back in] June of 2020, when the accusation surfaced.”

Zegler recalled being in the middle of the first Covid-19 wave in 2020, saying, “Those days were some of the worst mental health days I’ve ever had.”

The actress lamented being “held accountable” by the public for “accusations that not only had nothing to do with me but were made about a situation that was said to have occurred [five] years prior to when I had met and worked with this person.”

“With no thought to the fact that I was also 17 when I met this person, 17 when I worked with them, 17 and 18 when I had to do love scenes,” she added.

In 2020, Elgort was accused of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old in 2014. He was 20 at the time.

Elgort denied the allegations in a now-deleted Instagram post, in which he said he had a “brief, legal, and entirely consensual relationship” with the women and that he “would never assault anyone.”

“[There is] inherent discomfort that comes with that realization that there are tons of people who think that you have to answer for the actions of an adult male who can speak for himself,” Zegler added of questions she faced while promoting West Side Story. “It is so wildly disappointing at every turn, no matter how you slice it.”

Elgort’s co-stars Zegler, Ariana DeBose, and Rita Moreno were all asked about the allegations in a January Hollywood Reporter cover story, while director Steven Spielberg declined to comment.

Zegler further faulted the outlet for asking the women involved in the film to answer for Elgort, adding that she is looking forward to moving past the conversation.

No matter how many times I’ve tried to justify people’s concern when it comes to me in my brain, but then realizing that it comes from a place of me having to answer for that, and not them actually caring about whether or not I was okay, was really hurtful. And also paying no mind when it came to the conversation between myself and these other incredible women in my cast, without any thought process to our experiences as women in the industry who constantly find ourselves in close encounters with men in power, and a very iconic woman in Hollywood who has spoken about her experience with sexual assault. In the grand scheme of things with this woman who has come forward with these allegations, I cannot imagine what she had to go through. If I’m sitting here thinking that those days were traumatizing for me, I don’t pretend to know. I could never know.

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