Soap Star Arianne Zucker Sues ‘Days of Our Lives’ Production Company for Alleged Sexual Harassment
Days of Our Lives star Arianne Zucker has accused the soap opera’s production company of sexual harassment.
Zucker, 49, named Corday Production Inc. and executive producer Ken Corday in a Wednesday, February 7, lawsuit, claiming that she and multiple other women were sexually harassed on the set of Days. According to court documents obtained by Us Weekly, Zucker is suing the production company for discrimination, harassment, retaliation and wrongful termination.
Zucker claimed that she was subject to “sexually harassing comments” and “nonconsensual physical touching or a sexual nature,” during her tenure on Days of Our Lives. (She has starred as Nicole Walker since 1988.) Zucker also accused TV director Albert Alarr of making such comments and claimed that Corday was aware of the alleged misconduct.
“From the onset of Alarr's employment, he repeatedly subjected [Arianne] and other employees to severe and pervasive harassment and discrimination, including sexual harassment, based upon their female gender,” court documents read. “Namely, on a continuous basis, and in furtherance of his intent to harass and discriminate against Plaintiff based upon her gender, Alarr subjected Plaintiff to sexually harassing comments and nonconsensual physical touching of a sexual nature.”
Hollywood’s Sexual Misconduct Scandals
Zucker also reportedly witnessed Alarr, 67, harassing other women and making sexually charged comments.
"Alarr, Corday and Ken Corday treated female employees disproportionately than male employees,” Zucker claimed. “Female hair and makeup employees and female actresses were often berated and given tasks that were purposefully impossible to perform within the given time frame. Alarr often yelled at female employees, in the presence of Plaintiff, bringing them to tears. Alarr did not yell or berate the male employees. A female actress complained to Alarr that she was morally uncomfortable about a certain scene, and was subsequently fired by Corday and Ken Corday.”
A spokesperson for Days denied Zucker's claims.
“The allegations in Ms. Zucker’s lawsuit are without merit. Corday Productions offered to renew Ms. Zucker’s contract including offering her a pay increase. Rejecting Ms. Zucker’s counteroffer does not constitute retaliation," the rep told Us. "Complaints about Mr. Alarr’s on-set behavior were promptly investigated. Corday Productions fully cooperated with the impartial investigation and subsequently terminated Mr. Alarr.”
Zucker, meanwhile, claimed that she “feared coming forward” out of the prospect of retaliation or being blackballed from the industry. She noted that five women were “inexplicably fired” or quit Days due to the culture of harassment and discrimination.
In March 2023, Zucker shared her complaints about the offensive comments and alleged unequal pay with Corday, who seemingly “flippantly passed the buck” to his coworkers to handle. She further claimed that the network did not attempt to protect the soap stars from further harassment at the time.
Zucker’s contract with the production company expired in January and Corday allegedly refused to negotiate her salary when she was presented a new deal. She was then allegedly “terminated from her employment.”
‘Days Of Our Lives’ Heads to Peacock, Leaving 3 Soap Operas Still on Daytime TV: A Guide
“As a result of the illegal conduct of Defendants, Plaintiff has experienced and continues to experience extreme,” the docs add. “[Arianne] was thus forced to work under intolerable and illegal conditions and in a hostile work environment, despite her complaints and protests.”
Zucker’s lawyer, Anahita Sedaghatfar, reiterated her client’s claims in a statement shared with Us.
“I will add that Ms. Zucker did what we tell all women who experience harassment to do, and that is to report it. Ms. Zucker did just that and was the voice for other women who were too scared to come forward,” Sedaghatfar said. “Rather than condone her bravery, Ms. Zucker alleges that Corday retaliated against her and because she spoke out she has lost a job she was devoted to for two decades. As part of this lawsuit we will seek to ensure that Corday provides sexual harassment training to its employees and hires an intimacy coordinator to be on set for sex scenes.”
