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 thus lengthy.
The former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star is returning to her serialized horror/fantasy roots with the brand new Paramount+ present “Wolf Pack,” wherein excessive schoolers battle monsters that function metaphors for contemporary teenage life.
And whereas Gellar mentioned she’s glad to participate in what appears like a non secular successor to the present that made her well-known, she additionally made it clear that she will not be desirous about experiencing one other unhealthy work atmosphere.
“I’ve come to a good place with it, where it’s easier to talk about,” Gellar instructed the journal, referring to the varied accounts from her former “Buffy” solid mates concerning 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 instructed 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 buddy, former “Buffy” actor Seth Green, instructed the journal that Gellar typically 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 instructed 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 damaging 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 by way of Getty Images
Presumably Caulfield is referring to Joss Whedon, the creator of “Buffy,” who has acquired backlash resulting from his former colleagues’ allegations of his dangerous on-set habits at “Buffy” and different productions.
In 2021, Charisma Carpenter, who labored with Whedon on “Buffy” and its spinoff sequence “Angel,” tweeted a two-part statement wherein 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 essentially 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 along with her. Trachtenberg was a teen 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 press release on Instagram in assist 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 lately instructed the viewers at TheWrap’s “Power of Women” summit that she was on “an extremely toxic male set” for “for so long.”
Gellar instructed The Hollywood Reporter that resulting from her experiences, it was essential to her that she function an government producer on “Wolf Pack,” the place the primary solid members are between the ages of 19 and 21. She spoke to the outlet about an on-set incident on her new present wherein a crew member allegedly made somebody within the solid uncomfortable by providing them again rubs. Gellar mentioned the crew member was let go as quickly as she discovered about it.
“I hope that I’ve set up an infrastructure, a safety net for these actors that I didn’t have,” Gellar instructed the journal. “My generation just didn’t have that.”
To learn Gellar’s profile in full, head over to The Hollywood Reporter.
