John Barrowman’s husband Scott Gill has said the Doctor Who star has suffered online abuse after claims that he repeatedly exposed himself on set.
Barrowman recently admitted to “tomfoolery” on the set of the BBC show after a 2015 video from a fan convention was unearthed, in which co-star Noel Clarke alleged that he took “his d*** out every five minutes”.
At one point in the clip, Clarke asks his co-star Camille Coduri whether she remembers “that time he put it on your shoulder in the makeup truck?” to which she responds: “Yes, I do.”
Clarke was recently accused of sexual harassment, verbal abuse and bullying by 20 women in a Guardian investigation. He has categorically denied all but one of the allegations published in the paper, admitting that he made “inappropriate comments” to a single accuser and later apologised.
Taking to Twitter on Monday 31 May, Gill wrote: “It’s been a ‘challenging’ 3 weeks for both of us, watching @JohnBarrowman get hounded in the press and viciously attacked by trolls.
“But mostly it’s been amazing how many wonderful people have rallied around in support. To all of you who have sent us lovely messages – THANK YOU!”
Last month, Barrowman, 54, said that he has evolved in the years since, adding that his “high-spirited behaviour” was “only ever intended in good humour to entertain colleagues on set and backstage”.
He continued: “With the benefit of hindsight, I understand that upset may have been caused by my exuberant behaviour and I have apologised for this previously.”
Earlier this week, he thanked his fans for their support amid a Sun report that his job as a judge on ITV contest Dancing on Ice is in jeopardy.
“I just want to say thank you very much to everybody who has reached out with the countless messages of support over the last few weeks,” he said in a video posted to Instagram.
He said he was “touched” by the messages he had received from those “standing by him” after the controversy.
In 2008, Barrowman apologised after pulling down his trousers during an interview with BBC Radio 1, saying that he had joined in “the light-hearted and fun banter of the show” but “went too far”.
In the recent statement, which he shared with The Guardian, Barrowman reiterated his stance, saying: “Since my apology in November 2008, my understanding and behaviour have also changed.”
Julie Gardner, an executive producer on Doctor Who and Torchwood, also confirmed to The Guardian that she had received a complaint about Barrowman’s on-set behaviour “around 2008”.
“I met with John and reprimanded him [to] make it clear to both John and his agent that behaviour of this kind would not be tolerated,” Gardner said, adding that she also spoke to the show’s other executive producers and the head of BBC drama commissioning. “To my knowledge, John’s inappropriate behaviour stopped thereafter.”
Barrowman’s Torchwood co-star Gareth David-Lloyd defended Barrowman, stating: “He would have never behaved in a way he thought was affecting someone negatively.”
