Craig McLachlan breaks down in tell-all

OSTN Staff

For the first time since being acquitted of sexual harassment allegations in December, the 55-year-old will tell his side of the story that has dominated headlines for the past three years and saw him stood down from the Rocky Horror Show production and The Doctor Blake Mysteries.“I was public enemy number one. I am sitting here today, 100 per cent acquitted, I’m an innocent man,” McLachlan says on Channel 7’s Spotlight: Horror Show, which will air at 7pm on Sunday.A January 2018 report by Fairfax and the ABC first reported allegations McLachlan had been accused of sexually harassing several actresses.Victoria Police later charged him with seven counts of indecent assault and six counts of common law assault against four women on the set of the Rocky Horror Show in 2014. He was acquitted of all crimes.“The thing that I’m alleged to have done … to my friend,” a visibly emotional McLachlan says. “(I thought) How am I gonna survive this?”RELATED: Lewd footage of Craig McLachlan airs in courtHe added, “In this post-Weinstein, #MeToo world gone mad, I can’t win.“It didn’t happen.”His long-term partner, Vanessa Scammell, also makes a brief appearance in the trailer where she says McLachlan has been “abandoned by everybody”.RELATED: McLachlan’s courtroom singing ‘unnecessary’In December, Magistrate Belinda Wallington found the women who accused McLachlan were “brave and honest witnesses”, but said the prosecutors had not met the required standard for her to find McLachlan guilty of the allegations.Ms Wallington labelled the actor’s behaviour as “egocentric” and said his “self-entitled sense of humour” may have led him to believe the victims were consenting to his acts.However, she ultimately rejected police allegations the former Neighbours star touched a woman’s genitalia over her costume on stage, that he stuck his tongue into one woman’s mouth and that he felt up a woman’s thigh.Outside his lawyer’s office after his acquittal, McLachlan said he put his trust in the law.“As you can imagine, we have a lot to say. We have maintained a dignified and respectful silence for the past almost three years and put our trust in the law,” McLachlan said.“Stay safe, be kind to each other, we will see you in the New Year.”7News Spotlight: Horror Show airs on Channel 7 at 7pm SundayHow to find news on news.com.au

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