Michael Egan III, the man who accused “X-Men” director Bryan Singer of sexual abuse, has spoken out for the first time since his lawsuit was dropped in civil court.
During an interview with Vulture, Egan explained the attacks on his character have only fueled his desire to tell his story. He is aware people don’t believe him or understand why he didn’t come out with his allegations sooner.
“These people put so much fear in you when you’re a kid. But I still have fear,” Egan told Vulture, referring to Hollywood executives. “I had a dream last night that I was walking into a deposition and got shot…That’s sick to think that stuff.”
Egan's lawsuit claimed he was “groomed” by Digital Entertainment Network (DEN) executives to become a target of sexual abuse at 17-years-old, according to Vulture. Egan claimed the abusers he named in his recent civil case. David Neuman, Garth Ancier, Gary Goddard and Singer, were all a part of DEN, which began as a way to help young talent prosper and set them up with acting work.
Egan recalled one-on-one lectures where executives told him he was gay, even though he said he wasn’t. According to the lawsuit, the DEN executives held parties M&C estate in Hollywood. Egan claimed he was banned from wearing clothing in the pool or hot tub, and recalled being given drugs like Valium, Ecstasy and Percocets with alcohol.
The former aspiring actor claimed he was threatened to take the drugs and perform sexual acts at gunpoint. In the lawsuit, Egan alleged he was forced to sit on Singer’s lap and perform sexual acts on him. Vulture reports Egan’s lawsuit claimed he resisted but Egan forced him to perform oral sex and the director “forcibly sodomized” him.
Egan alleged he was abused for several years. He claimed DEN executives pressured him to become legally emancipated in order to work as an adult. Egan claimed he was promised movies only if he were able to work without supervision.
He soon realized something about his situation was wrong and found the strength to go to law enforcement with his allegations with the help of two other victims. Back in the early 2000, he claimed their lawyer, Daniel Cherin, encouraged them to go back to the estate and collect evidence.
“So we went back and copied everything in the file cabinet,” Egan told Vulture. “We had photos of the drug bags and child pornography in different cabinets, and video of the gun closet they locked me in.”
Egan attempted to obtain more evidence by sending emails to DEN’s executives, “asking for money and even looking to hang out,” according to Vulture. Egan claimed it was in an attempt to collect proof at the estate, which Singer's lawyers recently used them as evidence of extortion. The FBI claimed at the time there was not enough evidence to charge Neuman, Ancier, Goddard and Singer.
However, the three boys were able to file a civil lawsuit in 2000 for sexual abuse against DEN executives Marc Collins-Rector, Chad Shackley and Brock Pierce. The judge in case awarded the plaintiffs $4.5 million, which Egan claimed he collected just $25,000.
The lack of consequences for the DEN executives’ actions scared Egan back into silence.
“I was pushed by my mom to talk to the government, to law enforcement. I was scared sh**less,” he told Vulture. “To see that nothing happened—that if you ever did come out, that law enforcement never did anything, so who could you really trust—that was a hard thing for me to get over.”
Egan decided he wasn’t going to keep quiet any longer in April 2014. Though he dropped the civil lawsuit due to issues with finding representation for the case, Egan told Vulture it isn’t over.
“At the very beginning of all this,” Egan told Vulture, “my mom said to me, ‘If you had the choice to take millions of dollars or see these people go to jail, what do you choose?’ And I said, ‘Send them to jail.’ ”
To read more about Egan’s allegations against Singer and more Hollywood executives, click here.
