Sheryl Lee Ralph Reveals She Was Sexually Assaulted By “Famous TV Judge”

Sheryl Lee Ralph is not one to bite her tongue. In her new book, DIVA 2.0: 12 Life Lessons From Me For You, the Emmy winner opens up about her personal connections to the #MeToo movement. During her promo run, Ralph appeared on Way Up With Angela Yee and divulged further about being assaulted in the workplace at the hands of a “famous TV judge.” She clarified that it was not Judge Greg Mathis, whom she loves and considers to be “a great man.”

The Abbott Elementary star recalled, “I’m at a very public place. I was suited. I was handling my business for the television show I was on at that time. We were on the same network. This man walked in grabbed me by the back of my neck, turned me around and rammed his nasty a** tongue down my throat. And everybody at the network saw it.”

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Ralph even shared that the then-mayor of New Orleans was prepared to take action against her assailant, but the network’s executives urged her not to report the crime.

“The mayor of New Orleans at the time was Marc Morial,” Ralph said. “I called Marc Morial, he said ‘you want me to send the police there right now? ‘Cause we will fix his—you know what—right now.’ Somebody at the network tapped me on the shoulder and said ‘please don’t.’ Do you know that they did not want any bad press around their show and did not care what had just happened to me.”