Timothy Hutton Accused of Raping 14-Year-Old Girl Back in 1983

Former model and child actress Sera Johnston says Oscar-winning actor and a friend assaulted her in Vancouver hotel room when she was 14

Timothy Hutton
Timothy Hutton at TCA in 2019. (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Oscar-winning actor Timothy Hutton has been accused by a Canadian model and actress of raping her when she was 14 years old, BuzzFeed News reported Monday.

Sera Johnston, now 50 years old, told BuzzFeed that in 1983, she and two friends met Hutton at a restaurant when the actor was in Vancouver shooting “Iceman.” Johnston said she considered Hutton her “idol” after seeing him in “Ordinary People” and, after being asked to join Hutton at his table, was soon invited to party with Hutton and his friends back at the actor’s hotel. “We were young, and idiots,” Johnston told BuzzFeed News. “And we were like, ‘What would happen if we go?’”

But when they got to the room, Johnston said she was led into the bedroom and Hutton and one of his friends began undressing her “like a doll.” Although Johnston said she told the two men, “Please, don’t do this. I can’t do it. I can’t,” she said Hutton raped her while his friend put his penis inside Johnston’s mouth.

“It hurt like hell,” Johnston said. “It was very painful. God. Yeah, it was extremely painful. Horrible, horrible, absolutely horrible.”

Johnston and Hutton had reached an initial financial settlement of $135,000 after she raised the issue in 2017, BuzzFeed News reported, but Johnston eventually abandoned the agreement, which included a denial from Hutton. But after seeing other people speak up with their accusations against figures like R. Kelly and Bryan Singer, Johnston said she felt inspired to make her account public. And last year, she filed a complaint about the alleged incident to the Vancouver Police Department.

“It made me into a different person,” Johnston said of the alleged incident. “It changed everything.”

In a statement to TheWrap, Hutton denied that he ever assaulted Johnston and said that he has filed a criminal complaint against Johnston with the FBI for extortion. “I will not stop fighting to expose this story for what it is — a failed extortion attempt based on something that never happened,” he said.

His attorney, Tom Clare, also said they will be sending a “legal retraction demand” to BuzzFeed. In response, a spokesperson for BuzzFeed News told TheWrap that the publication “stands unequivocally by its reporting.”

“BuzzFeed News’ reporting on the alleged rape of a 14-year-old girl by Timothy Hutton is based on interviews with the alleged victim, the account of a woman who was with her that evening, and five separate people who were told of the assault at the time,” Matt Mittenthal, the spokesperson, said.

Also on Monday, Fox announced that Hutton’s TV series “Almost Family” had been canceled after just one season. Hutton’s other projects include the Gloria Steinem biopic “The Glorias,” starring Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander.

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