We spent 12 months investigating various lawsuits and allegations against Singer. In total, we spoke with more than 50 sources, including four men who have never before told their stories to reporters. A man we'll call Eric told us that he was 17 in 1997 when he and Singer had sex at a party at the director's house; another we'll call Andy says he was only 15 that same year, when he and Singer had sex in a Beverly Hills mansion. Both men say Singer, who was then in his early 30s, knew they were under 18, the age of consent in California. (They asked The Atlantic to conceal their identity for fear of retaliation, and because they didn't want certain details about their past made public.)
The accusations against Singer cover a spectrum. Some of the alleged victims say they were seduced by the director while underage; others say they were raped. The victims we interviewed told us these experiences left them psychologically damaged, with substance-abuse problems, depression, and PTSD.
The portrait of Singer that emerges is of a troubled man who surrounded himself with vulnerable teenage boys, many of them estranged from their families. Their accounts suggest that Singer didn't act alone; he was aided by friends and associates who brought him young men. And he was abetted, in a less direct way, by an industry in which a record of producing hits confers immense power: Many of the sources we interviewed insisted, out of fear of damaging their own career, that we withhold their name, even as they expressed dismay at the behavior they'd witnessed.
By Valdovinos's account, his experience on the Apt Pupil set was far more upsetting. After being dropped off by his father one morning, he was directed to the locker room. Shooting was about to begin. He remembers that the locker room had been divided—a screen here and lights over there. A crew member gave him a towel and told him to disrobe completely and wrap the towel around his waist. He was 13 years old. He hadn't yet had his first kiss.
"I'm hanging out," Valdovinos says. "All of a sudden, Bryan comes in. He goes, 'Hey! How are you?' Real cheerful. And I'm like, 'Hi.' I can't remember his exact words, but he was kind of just saying 'Come back here.' He kind of directs me; he kind of grabs me; and he takes us to the back area, which was kind of closed off. Like, this is the whole locker room"—Valdovinos gestures to suggest the space—"they're doing their stuff over there, and I was back here, in the towel, with no shirt and no clothes on, sitting on one of the locker-room benches. Bryan's like, 'Just hang out here. It's going to be all day. Don't worry." Singer left, and Valdovinos waited for what seemed like hours.
Eventually, he says, Singer came back and made small talk. How are you doing? Do you need anything? "Every time he had a chance—three times—he would go back there … He was always touching my chest." Finally, according to Valdovinos, Singer reached through the towel flaps and "grabbed my genitals and started masturbating it." The director also "rubbed his front part on me," Valdovinos alleges. "He did it all with this smile." Valdovinos says that Singer told him, "You're so good-looking … I really want to work with you … I have a nice Ferrari … I'm going to take care of you."
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2019/03/bryan-singers-accusers-speak-out/580462/
The full article is pretty long, but it deserves a full read. It's absolutely insane that he's still working right now.
