Arianne Zucker Talks ‘Days Of Our Lives’ Final Episode & ‘Access Hollywood’ Moment With Donald Trump: ‘I Didn’t See It The Way People Were Seeing It”
Former Days of Our Lives star Arianne Zucker, who is suing Ken Corday and former director/executive producer Albert Alarr for sexual harassment, has a very different recollection of the now infamous Access Hollywood tapes involving Donald Trump and Billy Bush.
In a recent conversation with Rachel Uchitel on her Miss Understood podcast, Zucker said she wasn’t personally offended by Trump’s taped comments that included the now infamous “Grab ’em by the pussy” line. Trump’s 2005 comments were recorded with Bush before he arrived on the set of DOOL to shoot a cameo with Zucker.
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“He made a comment, I guess, about my legs and so did Billy Bush,” Zucker recalled to Uchitel. “Everybody has spoken poorly about somebody in their lifetime. I don’t care who you are, everybody has, it’s just people get caught on camera doing it. Unfortunately, that happens all the time. And if you’ve ever gone to a fraternity party, the things happen. So [when she later read the taped comments] I’m going, ‘sounds like something my fraternity guys I know would say.’ But I just didn’t see it in the way that people were seeing it.”
“I felt attacked by the media because I knew all they wanted,” she continued. “I mean, the biggest thing was to get Trump off the ballot. I was like, that is not my job.”
When asked by Uchitel if she had a “different feeling” about Trump today, Zucker said no.
“I don’t really like talking politics, but as far as the way he speaks, could he do a better job of it? Absolutely,” Zucker said. “I think there are policies that were great that he did. I’m sure our pockets felt a little bit better four years ago than they do now. I know mine did. And so I think there were things … without getting too much into that … that I felt were really great. I am not going to judge the system. I think people can probably hear the way I think by the things that I’m saying, but I’m very in the middle of what’s going on in this country. And I mean, if this is the conversation we want to have, I just feel like there is weaponization on both sides.”
Arianne Zucker talks about Trump on the
Miss Understood Podcast#DAYS pic.twitter.com/6d1a8XoLUN— Monika (@monika_313) June 17, 2024
Zucker, whose last day on DOOL was Dec. 23, said her final episode as Nicole Walker will stream July 29 on Peacock. In her lawsuit filed in February, Zucker alleges her salary was reduced and her contract ultimately not renewed because she spoke out against Alarr, who lost his job in August of 2023 after Deadline revealed he’d been the subject of an investigation into allegations that included inappropriate comments and touching, including groping and forceful kissing, as well as creating a toxic environment on the show and governing by fear.
Zucker alleges she was victim of nonconsensual sexual touching and inappropriate comments by Alarr, like telling her costars during sex scenes that he would “love to switch positions” with them. He also would state that he enjoyed aggressive sex scenes. In response, a spokesperson for Corday Prods. released this statement: “The allegations in Ms. Zucker’s lawsuit are without merit. Corday Productions offered to renew Ms. Zucker’s contract including offering her a pay increase. Rejecting Ms. Zucker’s counteroffer does not constitute retaliation. Complaints about Mr. Alarr’s on-set behavior were promptly investigated. Corday Productions fully cooperated with the impartial investigation and subsequently terminated Mr. Alarr.”
“I will not say how I leave the show. I do respect that we don’t want to share that,” Zucker said on the podcast, though she did add that her character was not killed off. “We want the fans to be excited and enticed. Like I said, I’ve got a great group of women who are really standing up for [my] saying it’s not okay how you treat people there. I’ve done fan events recently, and how wonderful they are about sharing their personal stories, their personal trauma about something like this that happened to them at their place of work.”
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