Sarah Michelle Gellar is lastly coming again to TV — and a Hollywood Reporter profile revealed Wednesday makes it simple to see why she was away for therefore lengthy.
The former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star is returning to her serialized horror/fantasy roots with the brand new Paramount+ present “Wolf Pack,” through which excessive schoolers battle monsters that function metaphors for contemporary teenage life.
And whereas Gellar mentioned she’s comfortable to participate in what appears like a religious successor to the present that made her well-known, she additionally made it clear that she just isn’t involved in experiencing one other unhealthy work setting.
“I’ve come to a good place with it, where it’s easier to talk about,” Gellar informed the journal, referring to the assorted accounts from her former “Buffy” forged mates in regards to the present’s allegedly poisonous set. “I’ll never tell my full story because I don’t get anything out of it. I’ve said all I’m going to say because nobody wins. Everybody loses.”
But her refusal to supply extra particulars didn’t deter her husband, actor Freddie Prinze Jr. — or a few of her fellow “Buffy” alums — from making extra vivid allegations about what Gellar needed to endure whereas engaged on the present.
“She had to deal with a lot of bullshit on that show for all seven years it was on,” Prinze informed the Reporter. “The stuff they pressed upon her, without any credit or real salary, while she was often the only one doing 15-hour days … yet she was still able to get the message of that character out every single week and do it with pride and do it professionally.”
Gellar’s pal, former “Buffy” actor Seth Green, informed the journal that Gellar usually leveraged her energy because the top-billed star on the present in an try to guard herself and her colleagues.
“That show was just hard,” Green informed the Reporter. “We were working crazy hours, and a lot of things that got pushed weren’t necessarily safe or under the best conditions. Sarah was always the first one to say, ‘We agreed this was a 13-hour day and it’s hour 15 — we’ve got to wrap,’ or, ‘Hey, this shot doesn’t seem safe,’ when nobody else would stick up for the cast and crew.”
Green mentioned this resulted in unfavorable penalties for Gellar.
“I saw her get called a bitch, a diva, all these things that she’s not,” he mentioned. “Just because she was taking the mantle of saying and doing the right thing.”
Emma Caulfield, who additionally starred on “Buffy,” backed up Green’s allegations.
“It was obvious that Sarah lacked the support to be the leader she needed and wanted to be,” she mentioned. “There was a tremendous amount of resentment and animosity [toward her] from a certain someone — and I suppose now we can all guess who.”
Jean-Paul Aussenard through Getty Images
Presumably Caulfield is referring to Joss Whedon, the creator of “Buffy,” who has obtained backlash because of his former colleagues’ allegations of his dangerous on-set habits at “Buffy” and other productions.
In 2021, Charisma Carpenter, who labored with Whedon on “Buffy” and its spinoff sequence “Angel,” tweeted a two-part statement through which she accused Whedon of being emotionally abusive and creating “hostile and toxic work environments.”
“He was mean and biting, disparaging about others openly, and often played favorites, pitting people against one another to compete and vie for his attention and approval,” Carpenter wrote.
Shortly after Carpenter revealed her assertion, Amber Benson, one other “Buffy” alum, spoke out as effectively, tweeting that the set of the beloved teen drama was “a toxic environment.”
“There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later,” Benson wrote.
Perhaps probably the most startling allegation got here from “Buffy” actor Michelle Trachtenberg, who adopted up on Carpenter and Benson’s statements by saying there was a “rule” on set that Whedon was not allowed alone in a room together with her. Trachtenberg was a youngster when she co-starred on “Buffy.”
Gellar has additionally spoken out about Whedon and the work environments he allegedly harbored, albeit in obscure methods.
In 2021, Gellar issued a statement on Instagram in help of Carpenter, Benson and Trachtenberg.
“While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers,” she wrote, “I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon.”
She additionally just lately informed the viewers at TheWrap’s “Power of Women” summit that she was on “an extremely toxic male set” for “for so long.”
Gellar informed The Hollywood Reporter that because of her experiences, it was necessary to her that she function an govt producer on “Wolf Pack,” the place the primary forged members are between the ages of 19 and 21. She spoke to the outlet about an on-set incident on her new present through which a crew member allegedly made somebody within the forged uncomfortable by providing them again rubs. Gellar mentioned the crew member was let go as quickly as she came upon about it.
“I hope that I’ve set up an infrastructure, a safety net for these actors that I didn’t have,” Gellar informed the journal. “My generation just didn’t have that.”
To learn Gellar’s profile in full, head over to The Hollywood Reporter.
