Charisma Carpenter is accusing director Joss Whedon of on-set misconduct, saying that he “abused his power” while working with her on his hit shows Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
The filmmaker, also known for his work on films The Avengers and Justice League, has not commented on the actress’ remarks, which she posted on Instagram on Wednesday, Feb. 10. Carpenter, 50, played Cordelia Chase on Buffy between its 1997 debut and 1999, after which she moved onto a more prominent role on the spinoff Angel, which ended its five-season run in 2004.
“Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” the actress wrote. “While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively.”
In her post, Charisma said Whedon, 56, body-shamed her while she was pregnant, asked her if she planned on keeping her baby, and fired her after she gave birth.
The actress accused the series creator of making “ongoing, passive-aggressive threats to fire” her and said he called her “fat” to “colleagues when I was 4 months pregnant.” Carpenter’s character slipped into a coma in season four of Angel. Cordelia was killed off in the fifth and final season of the show, which premiered in October 2003, several months after the actress gave birth to her and then-husband’s Damian Hardy‘s first child, son Donovan.
