In a first-person account in Variety entitled "My Traumatizing Years with Bryan Singer," Blake Stuerman, 30, detailed his what he said were his experiences over his four years with out filmmaker Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects; X-Men; Bohemian Rhapsody).
Stuerman met Singer in 2009 in New York City when he was 18 years old, and entered into a sexual relationship with him shortly after; Singer was 43. Stuerman said he believes his relationship with Singer was abusive and traumatic, adding he was further traumatized by witnessing an incident in 2012 in which Singer allegedly assaulted someone. Their time together ended after Stuerman was fired as Singer's assistant in June 2013 on the film X-Men: Days of Future Past, which opened the following year.
Singer's lawyer, Andrew Brettler, responded in a four-page letter in which he called Stuerman's allegations "uncorroborated, inflammatory, and highly defamatory" and that Stuerman "simply has an axe to grind" against Singer.
Singer has been the subject of controversy for much of his career, starting with allegations of misconduct involving minors on the set of the 1998 film Apt Pupil, and exploding after being accused of raping a minor in a civil lawsuit in 2014 (that was later withdrawn). In 2019, Singer settled a lawsuit for $150,000 that claimed he'd raped a 17-year-old boy in 2003 (although he denied the allegations). Singer has never been arrested or charged with a crime related to these allegations, and he has denied all allegations of sexual misconduct.
Variety corroborated parts of Stuerman's story and interviewed more than 20 people for the article, which is at variety.com/2021/film/news/bryan-singer-blake-stuerman-1235136986/ .
