Nudity, Toxic Environment & Other Things - Ruth Wilson on Leaving 'The Affair'

Actor Ruth Wilson's exit from The Affair sparked a lot of conversation, especially because how unceremoniously that happened.

In the summer of 2018, actress Ruth Wilson stunned fans and the television industry at large when she abruptly left The Affair, the Emmy-nominated Showtime drama in which she starred, with no explanation.

The Hollywood Reporter interviewed many of those involved in Wilson's exit and the events that precipitated it. 

Treem, however, denies she ever pressured performers. "I would never say those things to an actor. That's not who I am. I am not a manipulative person, and I've always been a feminist," she says, noting that she "did everything I could think of to make [Wilson] feel comfortable with these scenes." 

"I have devoted my entire professional life to writing about and speaking to women's issues, women's causes, women's empowerment and creating strong, complex roles for women in theater and in Hollywood, on- and offscreen," says Treem. "It's what I think about, what I care about, it's what drives my life and work. The reason I even created The Affair was to illuminate how the female experience of moving through the world is so different from the male one, it's like speaking a second language. The idea that I would ever cultivate an unsafe environment or harass a woman on one of my shows is utterly ridiculous and lacks a grounding in reality."

But another source familiar with the call maintains that Nevins was simply trying to defuse what had become a tense situation. Both Benedek and Nevins declined to comment.