Chris Noth calls sexual assault allegations “salacious” and not true

Chris Noth’s first interview since being accused of sexual assault by multiple women is partially a promotion for Samuelsohn suits, for which he is a brand ambassador in the company campaign for men’s mental health. He is reportedly being paid in clothes rather than cash. He tells USA Today that the allegations against him are “a money train for a lot of people” and refers to the backlash against him as “being slimed.”

Noth is hesitant to say anything about the controversy, “because as soon as I do, you’ll get the Daily Mail or someone grabbing a part of it and doing it, and I don’t want my kids seeing that.” However, he’s also “not going to lay down and just say it’s over.” According to the Sex And The City alum, the sexual assault accusations are “a salacious story, but it’s just not a true one.”

Noth’s And Just Like That… co-stars released a statement in 2021 commending the women who had accused the actor of assault for coming forward. The allegations of misconduct date back as far as 2002; actor Zoe Lister-Jones was among those who came forward with tales of his inappropriate behavior. To hear Noth tell it, however, his only sin was cheating on his wife. Lots of people want to have sex with a famous actor, he shares, “and sex is just enjoyable,” so he made “the same excuses that many men do” for his infidelity.

He did not have any nonconsensual sex, in his words, but “There’s nothing I can say to change anyone’s mind when you have that kind of a tidal wave,” he tells USA Today. “It sounds defensive. I’m not. There’s no criminal court. There’s no criminal trial. There’s nothing for me to get on the stand about and get my story out, get witnesses. And there’s even more absurd add-ons that are completely ridiculous, that have absolutely no basis in fact.”

Noth has bills to pay and children to support, so he’s not ready to give up on Hollywood—except that Hollywood has largely given up on him. “People are afraid of all this. Fear is the overriding operative word when it comes to whether they believe it or not,” he says. “I have to just continue on. It’s rough, because people are scared, and their fear leads them. And I have to just persevere because I still have a creative life.”