"Difficult" was the word used by actress Hilarie Burton to describe her struggle against showrunner Mark Schwahn and his plans of sexualizing her character, Peyton Sawyer, in The CW's now-defunct series "One Tree Hill."
Burton revealed that she had faced a struggle for the first two seasons of the show, trying to make sure her character was not overly-sexualized. However, the worst came during the third run of "One Tree Hill," with Burton saying, "That's when Mark decided that I was his muse."
In an interview with Variety, the 35-year-old actress recounted how Schwahn had forcefully kissed her and touched her in with his wife's presence. Burton also revealed that Schwahn had been spreading rumors about the cast and that he was verbally abusive.
The allegations against Schwahn began when writer Audrey Wauchope tweeted that the creator sexually assaulted her at the time. Her recounting of this harrowing experience led to a unified stand against the now producer of E!'s "The Royals."
Wauchope alleged that Schwahn was fond of inappropriate comments and massages. "Sometimes we wouldn't luck out and he'd just squeeze his disgusting body in between us and put his arms around us, grinning. He pet hair. He massaged shoulders. I know he did more but not to me so they're not my stories to share," the former writer wrote.
Burton, along with other female cast members Bethany Joy Lenz (Haley James) and Sophia Bush (Brooke Davis) have taken a stand against the "One Tree Hill" creator for using his power to harass them.
Male "One Tree Hill" cast have also expressed their support for those who came out with their experiences. James Lafferty, who played Nathan Scott, took to Twitter to laud his co-stars for standing against the abuser.
Meanwhile, Schwahn had been suspended from "The Royals" following a "monitoring" on the sensitive matter.
