Ruth Wilson reveals she quit ‘The Affair’ because she ‘didn’t feel safe’

Fans finally know why Ruth Wilson left The Affair back in 2018. And, as she made clear at the time, it had nothing to do with pay parity or other jobs, and everything to do with “a much bigger story.”It’s been more than two years since Wilson surprised fans by quitting her Golden Globe-winning role of Alison Lockhart, but she’s finally opening up about her decision. “The reason I haven’t gone into The Affair is that I haven’t worked out how to discuss it. There’s a lot of noise and anger surrounding it, and really the power rests with me to choose how I discuss my life and my experiences,” the 38 year old told Stylist in a new interview while promoting the second season of her latest series, His Dark Materials.“What’s important to say is that I did speak up. I did have a voice. I did stand up for myself. There was a situation on The Affair where things didn’t feel right, and I dealt with them, and I managed to protect myself,” she continued. “It was before #MeToo and before Harvey Weinstein—and yet my instincts were very clear and strong about what I felt was wrong, about what was going on, and what I didn’t feel safe about.”While Wilson didn’t go any further into the situation than that (she reportedly has an NDA), last year The Hollywood Reporter dug deeper into the story. A December 2019 article that interviewed several people close to the situation claimed the show had a toxic workplace and that after Wilson objected to getting naked so often for no apparent reason, she was labelled as “difficult” to work with.“There was a culture problem at the show from the very beginning and a tone-deafness from [showrunner] Sarah Treem about recognizing the position she was putting actors in,” one source told the publication. “Over and over again, I witnessed Sarah Treem try to cajole actors to get naked even if they were uncomfortable or not contractually obligated to.” The source revealed Treem would say things like, “Everyone is waiting for you,” or "You look beautiful,” to help ease things along. “It's things you would think would be coming out of a man's mouth from the 1950s,” the source continued. “The environment was very toxic.”For her part, Treem has denied the accusations. She responded to THR and maintained that she would never say those things to an actor and that she did everything she could think of to make Wilson comfortable on set. She added that she cut certain scenes the actor was uncomfortable with and showed her cuts of other scenes before they aired to make sure she was okay with them.“I have devoted my entire professional life to writing about and speaking to women's issues, women's causes, women's empowerment and creating strong, complex roles for women in theater and in Hollywood, on- and offscreen,” she said. “It's what I think about, what I care about, it's what drives my life and work. The reason I even created The Affair was to illuminate how the female experience of moving through the world is so different from the male one, it's like speaking a second language. The idea that I would ever cultivate an unsafe environment or harass a woman on one of my shows is utterly ridiculous and lacks a grounding in reality.”Since leaving The Affair Wilson has gone on to star in the miniseries Mrs. Wilson, she shot another season of her BBC drama Luther alongside Idris Elba, and she landed the role of Mrs. Coulter in HBO’s His Dark Materials (the second season debut hits Crave November 8). She also has two movies in post-production: True Things About Me, based on the book by Deborah Kay Davies, and The Book of Ruth, a movie based on helping those in need during the AIDS epidemic and co-starring Matt Bomer.The Affair also starred Joshua Jackson, Dominic West and Maura Tierney. It ran from 2014 to 2019 on Showtime. While West and Tierney starred for the entire run, Jackson also left the show for its final season after Wilson’s character (AKA his one-time onscreen wife) was killed off. Over its five-season run the series received four Golden Globe nominations and three wins—Wilson’s, one for Tierney, and one for Best Television Drama in 2015. Tierney was also nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy in 2016, but she lost out to Maggie Smith from Downtown Abbey.[video_embed id='2030335']Before you go: Cat attempts daily hilarious attack on mail carrier[/video_embed]