【Romance Archives】

Orange Is The Romance ArchivesNew Blackstar Yael Stone is the latest person to accuse actor Geoffrey Rush of sexual misconduct.

The allegations came to light in the New York Times, where Stone said Rush sent her "occasionally vulgar" messages and that there were "strange intimacies in the dressing room" when they appeared together in the 2010 production of The Diary of a Madman.

There was also an incident in which Rush held a mirror above the shared dressing room's shower, while Stone was inside.

"I remember I looked up to see there was a small shaving mirror over the top of the partition between the showers and he was using it to look down at my naked body," she told the newspaper.

"I believe that it was meant with a playful intention, but the effect was that I felt there was nowhere for me to feel safe and unobserved."

In a statement to the Times, Rush said Stone's allegations of inappropriate behaviour "are incorrect "and in some instances have been taken completely out of context."

"However, clearly Yael has been upset on occasion by the spirited enthusiasm I generally bring to my work. I sincerely and deeply regret if I have caused her any distress. This, most certainly, has never been my intention," he added.

Throughout the claims, Stone said she was reluctant to come forward due to the state of Australia's defamation laws, which place the onus on the publisher to prove the claims are true. In the U.S., it's on the defamed to prove the claims are false.

It can lead to a costly and exhausting legal battle, as witnessed in the case between Rush and Australian newspaper The Daily Telegraph, who published claims of sexual misconduct by Rush against actress Eryn Jean Norvill.

(Editor: {typename type="name"/})