Stranger Things' Grace Van Dien says she's turned down roles after sexual misconduct from a film producer

10 March 2023, 16:12

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By Katie Louise Smith

"The fact of the matter is the last few projects I’ve worked on I didn’t have the best experiences with some of the people I had to work for."

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Stranger Things actress Grace Van Dien, who played Chrissy Cunningham in season 4 of the Netflix series, has taken to Twitch to speak out about an inappropriate and uncomfortable experience with a producer on one of her last projects.

Shortly after her Stranger Things appearance, fans discovered that Grace was also a Twitch streamer under the name BlueFille. Since May 2022, Grace has managed to build a strong subscriber base over on the streaming platform, and has now chosen to focus more on Twitch rather than her acting career.

In a Twitch stream earlier this week, Grace addressed fans questions about why she has been turning down acting projects recently, after revealing that she had declined four movie roles in the last two-and-a-half weeks.

Grace Van Dien says she&squot;s "turned down" roles after inappropriate experience with a producer — Grace Van Dien says she's "turned down" roles after inappropriate experience with a producer. Picture: Theo Wargo/Getty Images, Netflix

"Here’s the thing, I have seen that some people are upset with me for turning down acting projects and deciding to stream more, but the fact of the matter is the last few projects I’ve worked on I didn’t have the best experiences with some of the people I had to work for," Grace said.

Grace then alleged that she was subject to unwanted sexual advances from a producer: "One of the last movies I did, one of the producers asked me to… like, he hired a girl that he was sleeping with and then he had her ask me to have a threesome with them. So like, that’s my boss. And then I didn't and I cried and I was so upset."

Addressing the comments she often gets from fans who question how streaming is better for her mental health than acting is, Grace added: "I get to stay inside my house and play video games and I don’t have my boss asking me to have sex with them."

"I’m happy here, and I’m developing my own projects," Grace added. "I’m hoping that someone decides to fund them because then I can be in control of my own set, and I’m not gonna ask my actors to sleep with me."

Stranger Things star Grace Van Dien says she’s focusing on Twitch streaming instead of acting after producer asked her for sexual favors pic.twitter.com/ziEBFiQgAZ
— Dexerto (@Dexerto) March 9, 2023

Last week, Grace's Stranger Things co-star Joseph Quinn also called out the negative comments and online bullying that Grace has dealt with since appearing on the show. Back in May 2022, Grace was inundated with trolls commenting how much they didn't like her character, particularly in regard to Chrissy and Eddie's relationship on the show.

Speaking during a fan Q&A at Showmasters' London Comic Con (Mar 4), Joseph said: "It's so awful. I was talking to her about it. The internet is a very unforgiving place. It's a place where people can show a lot of support, or where people can rally around hatred and misinformation."

"It's indicative of where we are culturally, just through association she was getting lambasted," he continued. "It's disgusting. I don't know what to say other than it sucks.'"