Rachel Zegler Says She Felt Hurt Getting Asked About Ansel Elgort

Rachel Zegler just got candid about how enquires about co-star Ansel Elgort’s sexual harassment allegations made her feel. The actress is known for her award-winning role as Maria Vasquez in “West Side Story” alongside Elgort’s Tony. The role earned her a Golden Globe award, making her the youngest to bag the award at 20 years old.

Despite her relationship with Elgort being that of co-actors in a movie, Zegler recently revealed that she’d been subject to many questions concerning the actor and his sexual assault allegation. Elgort was previously accused of assaulting a 17-year-old when the actor was 20.

The 28-year-old denied the claims of sexual assault but admitted that he did have a “consensual relationship” with the accuser. According to Zegler, the questions were a “real gut punch” to the actress and offended her.

Zegler and Elgort played love interests in their movie together, “West Side Story.” The film first entered development as far back as 2014, and by the fall of 2019, filming was done. After its delay due to the pandemic, the film was finally released in theaters in December 2021.

In a recent interview with ELLE, Zegler admitted that she was previously asked about Elgort and the sexual assault allegations against him. The actress revealed that the time the sexual assault allegations were released were “some of the worst mental health days” she ever had.

This was mainly because at what was supposed to be the “biggest moment in [her] life,” she was constantly being badgered and “held accountable” for her former co-star’s actions. “… for accusations that not only had nothing to do with me but were made about a situation that was said to have occurred [five] years prior to when I had met and worked with this person.”

Zelger added that at the time she worked with Elgort, she was also 17. “With no thought to the fact that I was also 17 when I met this person. 17 when I worked with them, 17 and 18 when I had to do love scenes,” the 20-year-old said.

Still, in her interview with ELLE, Zegler clarified that she wanted nothing more to do with the conversation and was ready to move past it all. The “Snow White” actress also expressed concern for why several people were constantly called upon to “answer for the actions of an adult male,” especially one who was capable of speaking for himself.

She continued, “It is so widely disappointing at every turn, no matter how you slice it. No matter how many times I’ve tried to justify people’s concern when it comes to me in my brain, but then realizing that it comes from a place of me having to answer for that, and not them actually caring about whether or not I was okay, was really hurtful.”

Zegler also sympathized with Elgort’s accuser, saying she couldn’t imagine what she went through and couldn’t pretend to. “In the grand scheme of things with this woman who has come forward with these allegations, I cannot imagine what she had to go through… I don’t pretend to know. I could never know,” she said.

The “Fault in Our Stars” actor was previously accused of assaulting an underage girl. The incident allegedly happened in 2014, when the girl was 14 and Elgort was 20. The claims were released on social media by a woman named Gabby in June 2020.

The accuser removed the post not long after, but she shared some screenshots of the messages between her and the “Divergent” actor and a picture of both of them together. Besides the sexual assault, Elgort was also accused of trying to solicit nude pictures from the Twitter user at that time.

Elgort was also accused of requesting a threesome from her and another of her underaged friends. The Twitter user alleged that she was still a virgin when they had sex and “was sobbing in pain” during the act. According to her, Elgort didn’t listen and tried to convince her it was normal.

Elgort wasted no time denying all the allegations and claiming that his previous relations with the Twitter user were consensual and legal. He also cleared out his Instagram account of several posts and went off for a while.

In a long-deleted Instagram post, he wrote, “Her description of events is simply not what happened. I have never and would never assault anyone.” He then acknowledged that he previously had a “brief, legal and entirely consensual relationship” with the accuser. Elgort also mentioned that at 17, she met New York’s legal standard for consent.

The actor, however, apologized for how he reacted when they split ways; this was referring to him “ghosting” the girl. He wrote, “As I look back at my attitude, I am disgusted and deeply ashamed of the way I acted.”

Despite his denial, Elgort was accused by a number of other girls who mentioned similar behaviors from him. The actor allegedly sent direct messages to female fans around 15 years of age, asking to hook up and even sharing inappropriate pictures.