They were the dynamic duo whose films raked in millions, but the James Franco-Seth Rogen pairing has come to an end. Four years ago, accusations surfaced against Franco from several women who attended his acting classes. They accused the actor of abusing his power and acting inappropriately and soon, a sexual misconduct lawsuit surfaced.
Franco would later settle the suit for a reported $2.2 million, and this week, he spoke about those allegations for the first time while chatting with The Jess Cagle Podcast. Franco revealed that he had an alcohol and sex addiction while admitting that he did have sex with his students.
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Elsewhere during the interview, Franco spoke about his severed relationship with Rogen. During the time of Franco’s allegations, Rogen was accused of being an “enabler” to his friend. Rogen would state that he did not have plans to ever work with Franco again, and it is something that seemed to hurt his former friend.
“What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that,” said Rogen back in May. “The truth is that I have not and I do not plan to [work with Franco] right now.”
“He was asked about me, and I just wanna say I absolutely love Seth Rogen. … I love Seth Rogen,” Franco told Cagle. “I worked with him for 20 years. We didn’t have one fight for 20 years. Not one fight. He was my absolute closest work friend, collaborator. We just gelled.”
“What he said is true, you know, we aren’t working together right now and we don’t have any plans to work together,” he continued. “Of course, it was hurtful, in context, but I get it. He had to answer for me ’cause I was silent. He had to answer for me, and I don’t want that. So that’s why, that’s one of the main reasons I wanted to talk to you today. I don’t want Seth or my brother or anyone to have to answer for me anymore.”
Watch the clip of James Franco’s interview below.