Danny Masterson's former girlfriend testifies she woke up to find actor raping her
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- A woman who dated Danny Masterson for years testified Wednesday about two alleged rapes by the actor and said she did not initially report him to police because the Church of Scientology would have "destroyed" her.
Chrissie B. was the second of three accusers of the 45-year-old "That '70s Show" actor to testify in Los Angeles Superior Court at a preliminary hearing to determine whether there is enough evidence to order Masterson to stand trial on three counts of rape. Masterson has pleaded not guilty.
In court, Chrissie B. described two alleged rapes by Masterson in late 2001. The first happened when she woke up at their Hollywood Hills home to find him raping her. She testified that she tried to push him off and screamed. She said he hit her, spit on her and called her "white trash."
A month later, she and Masterson went to dinner. She said she had a glass or two of wine and blacked out. The next morning she woke up naked and in pain. When she asked Masterson what happened, she said that he laughed and learned he had had sex with her while she was unconscious.
Chrissie B. said that's when she reported Masterson to ethics officials at the Church of Scientology's celebrity center.
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She said the ethics officer and a Scientology chaplain told her it could not be rape because she and Masterson were in a relationship. Chrissie B. testified that she knew reporting a fellow Scientologist to law enforcement was considered a "high crime" in the church, and she would be declared a "suppressive person" - excommunicated from the church.
She testified that she believed if she reported Masterson to police that "the church would have ultimately destroyed me."
Chrissie B. testified that Scientology put her on an "ethics program" because she had "pulled in" or done something to cause the alleged rape. The couple broke up a few months later. They had a six-year relationship.
On cross examination, Masterson's defense attorney Thomas Mesereau tried to poke holes in Chrissie B.'s story and asked repeatedly about her contact with the two other alleged victims in the case, suggesting they had colluded on their stories, and about her contacts with actor Leah Remini and the interview she did on her show in 2019.
Mesereau also asked her about the two times she admitted to having sex with Masterson after the alleged rapes and after their break up.
The Church of Scientology has loomed large in the case in which the defendant and his three accusers were all devoted members at the time of the allegations from 2001 until 2003.
The two women who have testified at the hearing both spoke to church officials long before they went to police.
Danny Masterson charged with raping 3 women
Mesereau said Tuesday before the hearing began that the prosecution is marked by "religious bias in the most blatant form" from the case's prosecutors and lead detective.
And earlier Wednesday, he continued his cross-examination of the first witness, identified in court as Jen B., by trying to tie her to prominent voices who have spoken out against Scientology, including Remini.
Jen B. acknowledged filming an interview with Remini for her show "Scientology and the Aftermath" in 2017, saying she did so because she worried that no charges would be brought against Masterson and she felt it might be her only chance to be heard.
She said no when Mesereau twice asked her whether she had been paid for the interview.
Mesereau also asked Chrissie B. whether she had gone to police at the urging of Remini, which she denied.
Testimony continues Thursday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
