James Franco has claimed he's 'changed' amid the end of his friendship with Seth Rogen and controversies over the years.
Back in 2018 multiple women came forward, as well as four of his former pupils, accusing Franco of behavior that was sexually inappropriate or exploitative.
Actors Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal came forward a year later in 2019 and filed a lawsuit alleging that Franco had engaged in 'sexually-charged behaviour towards female students' at his now-defunct acting school.
Franco said the 2018 allegations were 'not accurate', but it was reported in 2021 that he had agreed to pay $2.23m to settle the lawsuit.
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The whole ordeal led to the breakdown of his relationship with Rogen, who he had worked with on the likes of Pineapple Express, The Interview and This Is the End.
Following the allegations against Franco, Rogen told The Sunday Times’ Culture magazine: "What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it, or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that."
The comedian acknowledged the allegations had affected the 20-year connection he had with Franco, saying: “I look back to that interview in 2018 where I comment that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not and I do not plan to right now [...]
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"I can say it, um, you know, it has changed many things in our relationship and our dynamic."
This was something that appeared to hit Franco hard.
"Being told you’re bad is painful," he told Variety in a recent interview.
"But ultimately, that’s kind of what I needed to just stop going the way I was going."
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As a result of the allegations, Franco disappeared from Hollywood, though he says he made good use of his new free time.
He continued: "Whatever had been going on with me before, I had to change my whole way of life.
"So I am proud of the kind of work I did during that time. And yeah, I wasn’t working in movies, but I certainly was doing a lot of work to change who I was.
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"Up until, let’s say the past eight years I had a good career.
"But it was very hard for me to enjoy it.
"I was a workaholic; I was going all the time. And even when there were good moments - like a movie that people liked or, I don’t know, [being] nominated for an award or whatever it might be, whatever good moments along the way that I wish I could have appreciated - I just didn’t because I had this weird thing where it was just like, I always need more."
The actor went on to state he's 'kind of grateful' for his time away from the limelight, before adding: "It did afford me a chance to just do whatever private work and really change what I need to change."
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Franco continued: "I don’t want it to sound like platitudes, but honestly, this is my experience. Sometimes life delivers things to you, and the delivery system is so painful. It really hurts.
"But ultimately, from the big picture that I’m talking about, maybe it’s for the best. Who am I to say?"
Franco's newest project, Hey Joe, debuted at the Rome Film Festival last week.
Topics: Celebrity, Seth Rogen, James Franco
Callum Jones