‘Zoey 101’ Star Comes Forward Alleging Abuse At Nickelodeon
Zoey 101 star Matthew Underwood has opened up about alleged abuse he experienced during his time as a child actor at Nickelodeon. He said that what he went through led him to quit acting altogether. Continue reading to see what he revealed and how it relates to the current allegations being made in the Quiet On Set docuseries.
Zoey 101 Star Opens Up About His Own Abuse
Underwood, 33, shared the details of his alleged abuse on Friday via Instagram. He says that he was assaulted by his former agent at the age of 19.
“When I was 19, I was sexually harassed and then assaulted by my agent at the time, who had spent a decent amount of time building trust with me as a friend and mentor. Again, my trust was betrayed and my self image was crushed,” the Zoey 101 star wrote. “I reported him to the agency and he has since been fired — although he is still active in the industry. This experience provoked my move away from LA and ending my pursuit of acting.”
Matthew Underwood said that he is coming forward about his story now due to the backlash he received following the release of Quiet On Set: The Dark Side Of Kids TV. The docuseries uncovered some of the toxic behind-the-scenes work culture that many child stars experienced in the 1990s and early 2000s at Nickelodeon.
The series also features several allegations of abuse against producer Dan Schneider as well as other members of the Nickelodeon production staff. Like many other shows at the time, Schneider was leading production on Zoey 101.
Underwood Never Had A Bad Experience At Nickelodeon
Underwood said that people have been “blowing up” his email, labeling him as a “pedophile defender” since the documentary was released.
In his statement on Instagram, the Zoey 101 star wrote, “I imagine many of my friends in the business are being equally harassed if they aren’t joining in the chorus, so I’m sharing this with hope that some of you can recognize that just because a person doesn’t shout from the rooftops that pedophiles are bad or that people can suck — that does not mean they don’t have their own reasons for staying silent, good reasons, personal reasons.”
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He continued, saying that he has “extreme empathy” for the child actors who were taken advantage of by people they should have been able to trust. “I hope they are all able to grow to love themselves and have great support from their family and friends in their journey of recovery,” he added.
Then the former Nickelodeon star spoke about his experience at the studio. He claimed that he never had a bad experience working on any set of a Nickelodeon show. Matthew Underwood also said he never had a bad experience with Dan Schneider either. “I have nothing to add to the conversation that anyone would care to hear,” he wrote.
That said, the Zoey 101 star said he is rooting for anyone who seems to want to do better in life. Underwood said that Schneider appears to realize that he had been an “a**hole” in the past and he’s willing to improve and do better.
Producers of the Quiet On Set announced a fifth surprise episode, which will air this Friday, April 5.
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