Selma Blair on why she told her #MeToo story: 'I can’t let these women just be called liars'

Selma Blair is sharing why she came forward with misconduct allegations against director and screenwriter James Toback.

The Cruel Intentions star, whose new film Introducing Selma Blair documents her battle with multiple sclerosis, spoke to Variety about allegations she made against Toback in an October 2017 Los Angeles Times article. At the time, Blair — who claims that Toback threatened her life — remained anonymous, but days later went public with her story to Vanity Fair, alongside actress Rachel McAdams. Toback has vehemently denied all accusations.

Blair explained to Variety, “I remember being so nervous, because I was still afraid of the predator. I was still under his threats. And now I realize once you turn on the light, you’re like — it set you free. It just set me free.”

The Legally Blonde star shared that she was moved to speak after Toback claimed that all the women who came forward — there were 38 in the Los Angeles Times piece alone — were “liars.”

“I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll talk. I can’t let these women just be called liars. Like, their stories are exactly the same,’” she continued. “I had no idea the floodgates it would open, and really a huge beginning of an era as we see so much change. I was really genuinely afraid for years.”

In January 2018, Blair detailed these fears on The Talk, sharing, “I’ve literally been afraid for 17 years of James Toback who threatened to murder me and, you know, put cement shoes on and gouge my eyes out with a Bic pen if I ever told anybody. I was mortally afraid for a really long time.”

Ultimately, she felt she had to be the “bigger voice” in order to get these stories out there.

“My prayer…was that there will be women much bigger than me that will be taken much more seriously, with pristine records that people will really pay attention to and it did,” Blair shared at the time. “It’s really happening. And it will be better for all of us.”