A dressing assistant who worked with actor and director Kevin Connolly claims he sexually assaulted her in 2005 • He denied the allegations and claimed: "Everything was in agreement"

• From "The Entourage"

  Photo: 

  Courtesy of yes

Actor and director Kevin Connolly is accused of sexually assaulting a dressing assistant who worked with him on the debut film set he directed "The Gardener from Heaven."

According to reports by the website Daily Beast who was the first to reveal the affair, Gracie Cox, who worked on the set of the film as a dressing assistant in 2005, claims that Connolly (46) raped her at the film's graduation party.

In an interview with the site, Cox revealed that Connolly flirted with her and suggested she go out smoking even though she does not smoke. Cox explained that she did not want to be portrayed as rude and therefore agreed to go with him. She said he led her to an isolated VIP area at the Butter Club in Manhattan, where he carried out his plot.

• The opposite of Mansky: the magic secret of Ruthie Brodo

• Listen: The "Winning Kitchen" Podcast

• All the songs in the innovation project for Meir Ariel

"I want everyone to know he's dangerous," Cox said in an interview with the site. "I do not want him to be able to evade prosecution for that."

Cox went on to detail the sequence of events that evening: "Once we were alone he started kissing me. I did not know how to react, and before I could even think what to do, he pulled me to a small cell, took off my pants, turned me around and went inside me."

"I was in shock," she said. "I had no chance to resist or protest. It happened really fast. Cox added that Connolly did not use the condom and grabbed it unprepared. She added that when he finished, he threw a pillow at her and asked her to clean up. He demanded that she wait a few minutes after he left. So that they do not see them going out together.

Cox claims she revealed the assault thing to Amy Westcott, the lead dresser on the set, who confronted Connolly at the party and expressed her disappointment at the behavior of both of them.

The Daily Beast further reports that an email exchange between Cox and Westcott revealed the fact that Cox was drunk at the time of the incident which Westcott said impaired her judgment.

Four of Cox's friends stated that she had revealed the incident to them, and another letter from Cox's therapist confirmed that she felt helpless and could not refuse it.

It was further revealed on the website that Cox did not undergo a rape test after the incident because she feared it would hurt her future career in the entertainment industry.

Connolly's lawyer, Marty Singer, denied the allegations on his behalf and insisted that it was an act done with full consent. "Kevin supports victims of sexual assault and believes that their claims should always be heard," his lawyer said. "As someone who has worked in the industry for four decades, he has always treated everyone with respect and maintained a flawless reputation. That is why he was amazed to hear of Mrs Cox's accusations from 2005. The act with Mrs Cox was consensual and he flatly denies it was an assault," he said.

Cox reportedly tried to get legal representation to file a lawsuit, but was denied due to the statute of limitations.

Connolly is best known for his roles as Eric Murphy in the "Entourage" series and as an accompanist in the "Unhappily Ever After" series from the 1990s.