Update: A spokesperson for E! gave HollywoodLife.com the following statement: “E!’s investigation was extremely comprehensive and thorough. Over the course of a two month process, our outside counsel interviewed more than two dozen people regarding the allegations, including multiple separate meetings with the claimant and all firsthand witnesses that she provided. The investigator is an attorney with nearly 20 years experience and is highly regarded professionally. Any claims that question the legitimacy of this investigation are completely baseless.”
Up until now, the world was kept in the dark about what Ryan Seacrest‘s former stylist, Suzie Hardy, had accused the 43-year-old of allegedly doing to her while she worked for him between 2006 and 2013. On Nov 17, 2017, Ryan released a statement, refuting the sexual harassment claims that were about to be brought again him by Suzie. He didn’t say what he was being accused of exactly, but he labeled Suzie’s claims as “reckless allegations.” After Ryan’s statement, E! initiated an internal investigation, and three months later, the network issued their own statement saying they found “insufficient evidence to support the claims against Seacrest.” Yet here we are, just a few weeks later, and Suzie has decided to reveal to Variety what she alleges Ryan did to her during her tenure as his personal stylist. Those allegations include “grinding his erect penis against her while clad only in his underwear, groping her vagina, and at one point slapping her buttock so hard that it left a large welt still visible hours later,” Variety notes. It’s all quite shocking, to be honest. Ryan nor E! have yet to release a statement in reaction to Suzie’s revealing interview, but we’d like to give you a few facts about her that may help illustrate this story. See below!
1. Suzie Hardy is a single mother, according to our sister site, Variety. Her daughter was “preschool-age” when she landed her job with Ryan in 2006. She was super happy to have landed the job, as it “provided good pay and a schedule that would allow her to pick up her child from school most workdays.”
2. Suzie’s position as Ryan’s stylist ended in 2013. Ironically, “after reporting Seacrest’s actions to human-resources executives, her employment ended,” Variety explains.
3. Since her departure from E!, Suzie has left the entertainment industry. She now works for a San Francisco-based tech company.
4. She also sought therapy after leaving E! News. “I’ve seen every shrink in town,” she told Variety.
5. Suzie worked a lot of freelance jobs before becoming Ryan’s stylist. And that’s exactly why she took the job with him, as she told Variety, “It was hard to raise a child and not know where your next check was going to come from, and if that gig was going to take me out of town for two weeks. [Working with Ryan] was a better deal all the way around, even if I was being abused. It’s sick to say, but it was true.”
Suzie can also be seen in this YouTube video at the 2:55 mark.
HollywoodLifers, how do YOU feel about Suzie Hardy’s claims? Tell us below.