A woman has come forward claiming former Silicon Valley star T.J. Miller hit and sexually assaulted her while in college.
The alleged victim spoke to The Daily Beast about the allegations, which were eventually addressed by a student court at George Washington University, and have been whispered about in the Hollywood stand-up scene for years.
Miller’s alleged victim, who asked to remain anonymous (but was given the moniker Sarah in the report), claimed the two started dating in the fall of 2001 after falling in with the same GW comedy troupe, receSs. Months into their relationship, however, troubling encounters began to occur in the bedroom.
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Sarah claimed the first encounter took place while they were “fooling around” at her place after she had “a lot to drink” one night. Stressing that there are “parts of [the incident] I don’t remember,” Miller’s ex said she has a distinct memory that Miller began “shaking me violently” and punched her in the mouth during sex.
After she allegedly woke up the next morning with a fractured tooth and a bloodied lip, Sarah said Miller claimed she had simply fallen down drunkenly the past evening. Though unsettled by the incident, Sarah still trusted Miller and continued to see him for a while.
One night after a party, another incident allegedly occurred. Soon after the two engaged in consensual sex at Sarah’s place, Miller became violent again, she said. This time, Sarah said she had no more than two drinks, and said her memory of the “five-hour” ordeal is still “crystal-clear.” She recounted:
“We started to fool around, and very early in that, he put his hands around my throat and closed them, and I couldn’t breathe. I was genuinely terrified and completely surprised. I understand now that this is for some people a kink, and I continue to believe it is [something] that should be entered into by consenting parties. But, as someone who had only begun having sexual encounters, like, about three months earlier, I had no awareness this was a kink, and I had certainly not entered into any agreement that I would be choked├óΓé¼┬ª I was fully paralyzed.”
Sarah alleged that she was “choking audibly,” prompting her roomates to knock on her door and as if she was alright. She said she responded, “I don’t know. I’ll talk to you in the morning,” before engaging in more rough activity with Miller:
“He pulled me back to bed and more things happened. He anally penetrated me without my consent, which I actually believe at that point I cried out, like, ├óΓé¼╦£No,’ and he didn’t continue to do that├óΓé¼ΓÇ¥but he also had a [beer] bottle with him the entire time. He used the bottle at one point to penetrate me without my consent.”
Sarah’s relationship with Miller dissipated in the weeks following the alleged assaults. She said the met once more, days after the second incident, to discuss what happened. She recalled:
“T.J. said it was a ├óΓé¼╦£trust thing’├óΓé¼┬ª and that he thought I was into it.”
After a year’s worth of deliberations, counsel, and support from friends, Sarah finally went to GW’s campus police to report the incident.
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During a university court hearing, Sarah said the student court grilled her about her “habits,” including what she had to drink and how much, on both nights. Sarah was also asked if the two had ever discussed the sexual practice of erotic asphyxiation, which she said they had not.
After a trial period of a couple weeks, Sarah said the university told her the issue had been resolved. A GW spokesperson confirmed that Miller graduated early in 2003 — other sources told the Beast that Miller was “expelled after he graduated,” an attempt by the university to satisfy both parties.
Miller has told friends in the years since that he was wrongfully accused, and has even tried to make light of the allegations by privately cracking jokes about punching a woman in college.
In response to the Beast‘s article, Miller and his wife Kate denied any wrongdoing and, instead, paint themselves as the victims of a vengeful ex-lover. The couple also posted their full statement on Instagram, sharing:
Sarah sees things differently. She maintains she doesn’t “want to mess up [T.J.’s] life,” just hold him accountable for his actions that have set the tone for her sexual adult life. She added:
“It is unfathomable to me that he doesn’t understand that he actually put me through something I have to live with, that I never would’ve chosen, that completely, completely set the tone for my sexual adult life, that I actively had to spend years and years├óΓé¼┬ª un-programming.”
What a messy situation. We hope the record is set straight.
[Image via WENN.]