“
How to Get Away with Murder” star
Karla Souza alleged she was raped early in her career by a director when they were shooting a movie in her native country Mexico.
Souza, 32, told CNN en Espanol Tuesday the director kept coming to her hotel room at odd hours to go over lines. She did not name the director, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“He knocked at my door saying he wanted to go over some scenes and I thought 'It’s 2 a.m. It’s not appropriate and it’s something that shouldn’t be happening,'” Souza said.
After she refused to answer, Souza said the unnamed director tried again, but she would not open the door. Following the two attempted tries, Souza said the director “humiliated me in front of the others on the set” and “decided no to shoot my scene.”
“This was the psychological control that he held over me,” she said.
The actress said after a month of the director’s “total abuse of power” she gave in to his advances after she felt like there was no choice.
“I ended up giving in to him. [I let him] kiss me, to touch me in ways I did not want him to touch me and in one of those instances, he attacked me violently and yes, he raped me,” Souza said while tearing up.
Souza plays Laurel Castillo on ABC's "How to Get Away with Murder" from popular showrunner Shonda Rhimes. She has also worked on several Spanish-language TV shows.
Souza’s statements come amid the emerging #MeToo movement that took Hollywood by storm following bombshell exposes by The New York Times and The New Yorker on movie mogul Harvey Weinstein. A number of Hollywood stars and figures have spoken out alleging sexual abuse in the industry.