Logie-winning actor Craig McLachlan has been accused of using his role in the risque Rocky Horror Show to sexually harass and assault his co-stars.
Three women who were cast in the 2014 stage production alongside him, Erika Heynatz, Christie Whelan Browne and Angela Scundi have told the ABC and Fairfax he took advantage of the sexual nature of his role to grab at and kiss them, crossing the line between acting and assault numerous times.
Scundi, who was an understudy for character Columbia in the production, said the one time she tried to stop his behaviour he threatened to "end" her during what she describes as the most terrifying moment of her life.
During an interview with 7.30 that aired Monday night, the actress described how McLachlan would often go off-script and 'improvise' by kissing his co-stars. Not wanting this to happen to her when she stepped into the role on-stage, the performer took action.
"I approached the resident director and I said, 'I don't want to do the kiss. That's not what I have written down. I don't want to do it.' She assured me I didn't have to do it," Scundi told 7.30.
The first night went as planned, but the second night the actor grabbed and kissed her.
"But I couldn't do anything. I was completely caught off guard because the night before he hadn't done that. And so I thought I was safe."
Scundi said she decided to confront the The Wrong Girl actor - and that's when he became vicious.
"I said, "You're a cheeky f***er, aren't you?" He turned around and he said, 'What do you mean?' And I'm like, 'Don't do that. Don't you kiss me. Don't you do that ever again.'
"And he turned and, I don't feel fear at that level, but I haven't felt that terrified ever in my life or ever again.
"But in that moment when he turned around and he lent over me and he got in my face and the show was still going and it was quiet, he had his finger in my face and he definitely said, 'You are nothing. Don't you dare talk to me like that. I will end you.' And in that moment I believed him."
While Scundi, Heynatz and Whelan Browne made complaints at the time, they didn't take their allegations public, fearing that they wouldn't be believed.
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Now, sharing her story, Scudi says she thinks its worth coming foward, even if it ends her career.
"I hope that in coming forward, which is something that is very difficult and something I tried to avoid, but I hope that it makes a change."
"This is bigger than me and my career. My career only impacts me. And I think when you weigh up the cost of some things, the cost of me not speaking up is far greater than me never doing a musical again."
McLachlan has so far denied the allegations against him, labelling the women's accounts as "simple inventions".
