Content advisory: This article may be triggering for some readers, as it contains descriptions of sexual exploitation and coercion, and mentions self-harm.
Comedian and actor Chris D’Elia had the fans, the sold out tours, the Netflix specials, a big part in the hit show You and of course, oodles of money. That came to a screeching halt in the summer of 2020 when a woman claimed D’Elia preyed on her and asked for nude photos when she was 16. Other women came forward, and D’Elia tried to rehab his image. However, according to a new report, D’Elia’s predatory behaviour never stopped.
In light of a recent documentary outlining DElia’s alleged behaviour, Rolling Stone interviewed 10 women who say the comedian forced them to be at his beck and call at all times of the day to indulge his sexual desires. They would have to rush to public bathrooms or pull over on the side of the road to comply with his requests, the article said.
D’Elia, who has a son and a wife named Kristin Taylor D’Elia, never had ground rules for the women, as one might have in a consensual kink relationship. He was controlling and espoused a cult-like dynamic with the women, ignoring them and punishing them if they didn’t comply with his commands.
If and when they tried to break things off, the piece alleges, D’Elia would express suicidal ideation. One woman, identified as Emma, said he changed her life forever, and not for the better.
“In no sense of the word is my life the same,” Emma said. “I will always struggle with figuring out what feels normal in a relationship because of it… I’m not sure [D’Elia will] ever fully understand the scope of what he has done to a lot of women.”
The theme that unites all of the stories is how D’Elia was controlling, coercing and manipulating, dangling perks like tickets in exchange for sexual favors. One woman said she told D’Elia she was underage and her mom had to take her to the show. He told her to ditch her mom so they could “hang out,” even though she told him she was 17.
Another woman said she was “shaking and crying” as D’Elia coerced her into performing oral sex on him.
“He grabbed me by the face because I’m crying and he says, ‘Look at me,’” she said. “I couldn’t look at him, obviously. I didn’t want to look at him. He said, ‘If you just do everything I say, it’ll all be OK.’ I thought, ‘OK.’”
Other women got tattoos with his initials and were asked to make videos on their knees saying they were “a D’Elia girl.”
The scale of the operation is simultaneously unsettling and imposing. D’Elia allegedly maintained abusive relationships with multiple women and girls in multiple cities, leaving behind a trail of upset and disillusioned women.
In public, after the 2020 outcry, D’Elia changed his public persona. He entered rehab, said sex controlled his life but he wanted to change and started showing a more familial side, sharing pictures of his son and his wife. In private, according to women interviewed in the piece, he continued his malicious and predatory behavior.
Many women interviewed for the documentary and the Rolling Stone coverage say they don’t care about the comedian being cancelled, they just want “accountability and honesty,” as one woman put it. They mostly want him to stop abusing women.
