Timothy Hutton has strenuously denied allegations that he raped a 14-year-old girl in 1983.
Sera Johnston, a former actor and model, alleged that she encountered Hutton, then 22, in a Vancouver, Canada restaurant. Johnston claimed that she initially told Hutton and two of his friends that she was 17, before later telling them that she was actually 14.
After being invited back to the hotel in which Hutton was staying, accompanied by two of her friends, Johnston alleged that she was raped by Hutton and sexually assaulted by another unnamed person.
In a statement supplied to Buzzfeed through his lawyers, Hutton “will not spend one more minute dignifying these allegations as they are patently false and designed only to extort money from him.”
The statement called Johnston’s story “fabricated, patently false, scurrilous, and defamatory” and claims that Johnston had fabricated a “made-up sexual encounter that supposedly occurred 36 years ago”.
Johnston told Buzzfeed that she had entered arbitration with Hutton’s legal team in 2017, which led to her agreeing to a $135,000 settlement. She said that she later changed her mind about the settlement, after realising Hutton would be able to deny any wrongdoing as a result.
Buzzfeed claimed that an ex-boyfriend of Johnston’s additionally reached out to Hutton’s unnamed friend (who Johnston claimed also participated in her rape) in March 2019, in an attempt to personally broker a settlement.
The site said Johnston’s claims were corroborated by one of the two friends with whom she visited Hutton’s hotel room, who signed an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that supported Johnston’s allegations. Five other people were also contacted by Buzzfeed, who each said that they had previously been informed of Johnston’s claims.
She also filed a criminal report with the Vancouver police in relation to the alleged incident in 2019.
Hutton’s lawyers have rebutted Johnston’s claims in a 91-page letter, insisting that she is not credible and accusing her of lying.
At the time of the alleged incident, Hutton was in Vancouver filming the movie Iceman. Two years prior he had won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his film debut, Ordinary People. His other credits include the TV series Leverage and The Haunting of Hill House as well as films All the Money in the World and Beautiful Boy.
US broadcaster Fox announced the cancellation of Hutton’s latest TV series, the ensemble drama Almost Family, the same day Buzzfeed published its report.
The Independent has reached out to Hutton’s representatives for further comment.
