A former HGTV staffer claims that giving into host Carter Oosterhouse’s demands for oral sex ruined her career.
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Kailey Kaminsky, who worked as a makeup artist on Oosterhouse’s show “Carter Can” in 2008, accused him of coercing her into performing oral sex while they were in production.
“He’s like, ‘You know what would be a good idea? If you went down on me,’” she said. “I said, in my sarcastic way, ‘Well, that’s not sexual harassment at all.'”
Still, the conversation progressed from Oosterhouse badgering her to allegedly threatening her career if she did did not comply, Kaminsky said. She says she had 10 to 15 encounters with Oosterhouse, some taking place in a vehicle and others inside his dressing room in between shoots.
“When he would assault me, he insisted on finishing on my face — every time — knowing that I had to go back out and work,” she claimed to THR.
Kaminsky said she was 32 at the time and Oosterhouse was 34 years old.
Oosterhouse called his time with Kaminsky an “intimate relationship,” and insists that all of their hookups were mutual.
“I had an intimate relationship with Kailey 9 years ago and it was 100% mutual and consensual,” he said in a statement to THR. “In no way did I ever feel, nor was it ever indicated to me, that Kailey was uncomfortable during our intimate relationship…The reality is that I knew it was consensual because she initiated it the first time and many of the 15 or so times we had relations thereafter.”
Kaminsky said she confided in two female colleagues at the time. One woman told THR the relationship between the two was framed to her as consensual. “It didn’t raise any flags, so I don’t think we suggested an intervention,” the producer said. “It didn’t seem like it was abusive.”
Kaminsky — who identifies as a lesbian — claims that the occasions, which she says her parents refer to as “Kailey’s nightmare,” gave her severe anxiety, which led her to be hospitalized with a stomach ulcer and later without a career.
“I was basically nonfunctioning, unable to hold a job,” she says. “I had no self-esteem. I just spiraled further and further down.”
Seeing his face on magazine covers announcing the his 2011 marriage to actress Amy Smart years later prompted dark memories of her time with him to flash back. Today, she says that the stories of other women coming forward with their own accounts of sexual harassment and assault have given her PTSD.
“I’m not looking to be litigious or for money,” she said. “I just want to set the record straight about what happened to me.”
Speaking to the Hollywood Reporter, Kailey Kaminsky, who worked as a makeup artist on Oosterhouse’s show “Carter Can” in 2008, accused him of coercing her into performing oral sex while they were in production.
“He’s like, ‘You know what would be a good idea? If you went down on me,’” she said. “I said, in my sarcastic way, ‘Well, that’s not sexual harassment at all.'”
Still, the conversation progressed from Oosterhouse badgering her to allegedly threatening her career if she did did not comply, Kaminsky said. She says she had 10 to 15 encounters with Oosterhouse, some taking place in a vehicle and others inside his dressing room in between shoots.
“When he would assault me, he insisted on finishing on my face — every time — knowing that I had to go back out and work,” she claimed to THR.
Kaminsky said she was 32 at the time and Oosterhouse was 34 years old.
Oosterhouse called his time with Kaminsky an “intimate relationship,” and insists that all of their hookups were mutual.
“I had an intimate relationship with Kailey 9 years ago and it was 100% mutual and consensual,” he said in a statement to THR. “In no way did I ever feel, nor was it ever indicated to me, that Kailey was uncomfortable during our intimate relationship…The reality is that I knew it was consensual because she initiated it the first time and many of the 15 or so times we had relations thereafter.”
Kaminsky said she confided in two female colleagues at the time. One woman told THR the relationship between the two was framed to her as consensual. “It didn’t raise any flags, so I don’t think we suggested an intervention,” the producer said. “It didn’t seem like it was abusive.”
Kaminsky — who identifies as a lesbian — claims that the occasions, which she says her parents refer to as “Kailey’s nightmare,” gave her severe anxiety, which led her to be hospitalized with a stomach ulcer and later without a career.
“I was basically nonfunctioning, unable to hold a job,” she says. “I had no self-esteem. I just spiraled further and further down.”
Seeing his face on magazine covers announcing the his 2011 marriage to actress Amy Smart years later prompted dark memories of her time with him to flash back. Today, she says that the stories of other women coming forward with their own accounts of sexual harassment and assault have given her PTSD.
“I’m not looking to be litigious or for money,” she said. “I just want to set the record straight about what happened to me.”
