Fans of The Wonder Years may be interested to learn that a sexual harassment claim was allegedly what brought the popular show to an end. According to one of the show’s lead actresses, “Alley Mills, who played Fred Savage’s mother, Norma Arnold,” a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed in 1993 by “ 31-year-old costume designer Monique Long” against “Savage and Jason Hervey, who played Savage’s older brother.” At the time, Savage was 16 and Hervey was 20. But what happened, exactly?
Fans of The Wonder Years may be interested to learn that a sexual harassment claim was allegedly what brought the popular show to an end. According to one of the show’s lead actresses, “Alley Mills, who played Fred Savage’s mother, Norma Arnold,” a sexual harassment lawsuit was filed in 1993 by “ 31-year-old costume designer Monique Long” against “Savage and Jason Hervey, who played Savage’s older brother.” At the time, Savage was 16 and Hervey was 20. But what happened, exactly?
After working on the show throughout 1991 and 1992, Long alleged in her lawsuit that “during her time on the series, she couldn’t do her job properly due to physical and verbal harassment from both young actors, and she was eventually fired.” According to her, Savage “constantly held her hand, asked her to have an affair, and made sexual remarks.”
When commenting on the lawsuit filed all those years ago, Mills said the allegations were “completely ridiculous,” and added that Savage is “the least offensive, most wonderful, sweet human being that ever walked the face of the earth.” She believes that, had it not been for the lawsuit, the series may have continued. She said, “when you keep up a certain amount of ratings, they keep the show going…But it was because of all that garbage…” that the show ended.
Others pushed back against Long’s allegations, including representatives of the actors and series. Regardless, the lawsuit was eventually settled “out of court, and subsequently dropped.” To this day it’s uncertain “whether the network’s decision to cancel The Wonder Years actually stemmed from the suit” because at the time it was canceled the network claimed rising costs and the fact that the actors were maturing as reasons why the show was canceled so suddenly.
Once Long’s lawsuit was settled, Mills and others weren’t permitted to talk about the suit for a while. “We had gag orders on us…I wanted to scream on television, ‘This is ridiculous!’” Mills said, adding:
“I just thought [the lawsuit] was a big joke and it was going to blow over. It’s a little bit like what’s happening now—some innocent people can get caught up in this stuff; it’s very tricky. It was so not true. It was my dresser, and I don’t care if she’s listening—I probably shouldn’t be telling this, but I don’t care because it was so long ago and it’s gotta be over now.”
When talking about the network’s decision to settle the lawsuit, Mills said:
“They brought her off, which really made me mad. That was incorrigible that the network did that; they should never have paid her off. They wanted to avoid a scandal or something, but it made them look guilty. You know you don’t pay someone off when there was no crime; you just fire the girl.”
When Long heard of Mills’ comments, she responded in an email and made it know that “she still stands by her claims of harassment.” She added:
“What I will say at this time is that, back then, claiming sexual harassment was NOT popular nor acceptable in Hollywood. Now, all these years later, the truth about the dark side of Hollywood and the rampant prevalence of sexual harassment in the industry is out. It’s an issue of power and control and continues to be! People can say what they want, but the truth has always been public record in the complaint and all the documents and depositions filed with the courts. If anyone wants the truth of what happened, they can read it there. To this day, I stand by the truth in those documents…My only response to Ms. Mills’s slander is that it proves exactly why women in the industry are forced to remain silent about sexual harassment.”
Sources:
Wonder Years Actress Claims a Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Ended the Show
‘Wonder Years’ Star Says Show Was Canceled Because of Sexual Harassment Allegations
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