James Franco admits sleeping with students from his acting school
Actor James Franco has admitted having sex with students from his acting school, almost four years after sexual misconduct allegations were made.
He agreed to pay $2.2m (£1.6m) in July after being sued for engaging in "sexually-charged behaviour towards female students".
Speaking on The Jess Cagle Podcast, he said that while teaching, he "did sleep with students, and that was wrong".
He said he had not started the school to lure women for sexual purposes.
The actor said he had remained quiet for such a long period because "there were people that were upset with me and I needed to listen".
Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, who attended Franco's now-defunct Studio 4 acting school, alleged Franco tried to "create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education".
Asked how he could have been unaware of the potential for power dynamics between a teacher and student to skew the concept of consent, Franco responded: "At the time, I was not clear-headed."
Franco was nominated for best actor at the Oscars in 2011, for his starring role in 127 Hours, which was directed by Danny Boyle.


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