Eliza Roberts sat silently, trembling, as we recounted the words from her 1994 deposition.
For the first time, the actress and producer is breaking her silence about an incident she alleges occurred with actor Timothy Busfield in 1989.
After years of keeping quiet to safeguard her young family, Roberts is speaking out now, following the indictment of the West Wing star by a grand jury on four charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor.
Busfield, who is 69, has entered a plea of not guilty in response to the accusations that he inappropriately touched young male actors during the filming of the Fox crime show The Cleaning Lady.
In a candid conversation at her Los Angeles residence, which she shares with her husband Eric Roberts, the Oscar-nominated sibling of actress Julia Roberts, Roberts, 73, told the Daily Mail, “I’ve chosen to speak out because he’s calling those who speak the truth liars.”
The following account reflects what she told New Mexico detectives investigating Busfield’s active criminal case.
She recalled walking into the Children’s Book and Music Center in Santa Monica, California, in 1989 where she ran into Busfield.
‘I stopped in there to get some books for my kids, and Tim was there, and it was nice to run into each other,’ she said.
Eliza Roberts said going public about her alleged unwanted encounter what Timothy Busfield could bring her some criticism but ‘it’s worth it’ if other alleged victims know they are not alone
Busfield, who has been an actor and director for more than four decades, is facing four felony counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor, which he denies
At the time, Roberts was already an established actress and casting director who moved in the same Hollywood circles as Busfield, whose breakout role on Thirtysomething had made him one of television’s most recognizable faces.
‘He was looking for books for his kids, and I was looking for books for my kids. We talked in the store about our lives, our kids, and a little bit about the whole work-life balance in our industry. It was very nice … until it wasn’t,’ Roberts said.
But things took an uncomfortable turn when she said Busfield started complimenting her and talking about marriage and sex.
Roberts ended the conversation and walked back to her car but she claimed Busfield followed her.
Shuddering, Roberts recalled how Busfield suddenly appeared, his body pressed against the car door and his fingers clutching the half-open driver’s side window.
‘At first I thought he forgot something or wanted to say goodbye again,’ Roberts said.
‘But immediately he started to speak very graphically, sexually to me, and it was a whole other vibe.
‘It was almost like a different person, and I was confused because I just didn’t understand where that came from. And he was in a world of his own. He looked like he was in the throes of a very intense moment that he was having that was all kind of at my expense.’
In a deposition obtained by the Daily Mail from court, Roberts recalled Busfield saying: ‘I would really love to know how you taste. What makes you c**? I would like to lick your p***y.’
She said he spoke of his desires to give her oral sex, claimed he would be ‘so great in bed’ for her and complained that his wife was a ‘lousy f***.’
She has broken her silence about the alleged encounter after Busfield was indicted by a grand jury over allegations of inappropriately touching children
Roberts said she still suffers trauma to this day and fears others do not know the ‘real’ Busfield
Busfield, who has been married to Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert since 2013, was married to his first wife at the time.
Roberts first told her story in a sworn deposition in 1994, when Busfield was sued by a Minneapolis 17-year-old who accused him of sexual harassment on the set of Little Big League.
No charges were filed and the civil case was settled out of court. Busfield has denied any wrongdoing in that case.
Eric Roberts said he was alongside his wife when she decided to provide her 1994 deposition.
‘She provided her statement because she saw what happened to her was happening to someone else,’ Eric said. ‘She was p***ed off because [Busfield] had been accusing the girl of fabricating what happened to her.
‘We were all upset.’
Hinting at Roberts’ decision to finally speak out, Eric added: ‘We’re talking a period of over 40 years of these kinds of things happening. Shame on us.’
Roberts refused to give press interviews at the time because she feared the attention that would come with accusing a well-known actor.
She told the Daily Mail that she received a call from a seething Busfield shortly after she provided that 1994 deposition.
‘He said, “Eliza, how would you do this to me? We’re friends,”‘ Roberts recalled.
‘I told him, “Yes, I thought we were friends, but do you remember what you did to me? It’s the same thing you did to her! She’s your kid’s age! What are you doing? You’re calling her a liar. Do you know how awful that is?”‘
Actress Melissa Gilbert and Busfield have been married since April 2013
She claims Busfield sexually harassed her outside a children’s bookstore in the 1980s
Pictured: Eric Roberts, his daughter Emma Roberts and Eliza Roberts
She claimed Busfield hung up and ‘never apologized.’ Roberts said she never spoke to Busfield again, according to the police report.
Then, in the early 2000s, Roberts said the trauma continued when she saw Busfield while she was dining with her mother and sister at one of her favorite Italian restaurants.
‘He walked in with some friends into the restaurant and I burst into tears,’ Roberts said. ‘That’s not like me. It’s not that I’m not an emotional person, I’m pretty strong. My mom and my sister, who are both very tough women … were like, “What’s going on?”
‘I said, “Tim Busfield just walked in… I had a thing happen with him years ago and I just reported him because he victimized a very young girl in exactly the same way he did to me.” I obviously had been traumatized because it was such an emotional reaction.’
‘It’s really hard,’ Roberts said of the trauma she’s felt over the years. ‘I was like, “Oh, that was real. That really happened because, look, it just happened again.”‘
Roberts was referring to the increasing number of women who have come forward claiming that Busfield treated them in an unsettling or aggressively sexual manner.
Busfield has consistently denied any wrongdoing. His defense attorney, Stanton ‘Larry’ Stein, told the Daily Mail that the prosecution’s decision to include old claims made by Roberts and other alleged victims show cracks in their investigation against his client.
‘This shows how weak the actual case is because they’re trying to use… old alleged statements with adult women to establish their case regarding prepubescent boys,’ Stein said.
‘It shows how little evidence they have and how desperate they are to do anything to prejudice the public against my client. That that tells you a lot about the strength of their case, or the lack of strength of their case.’
Eliza in the 1978 cult classing film National Lampoon’s Animal House
Eric and Eliza Roberts have been married since 1992
Eric Roberts (left) with sister Julia Roberts (right)
Police files obtained by the Daily Mail show six women have provided accounts to New Mexico detectives describing alleged unwanted sexual encounters with Busfield spanning decades. Several claims have never been heard before.
Among them is a woman identified as JB, who told detectives Busfield allegedly kissed and groped her without consent while she was a 21-year-old apprentice at his Sacramento theater company in the early 2000s and he was in his forties.
She later alleged that Busfield verbally berated her for months after rejecting his advances, leaving her feeling she was being punished.
Another fresh allegation came from Busfield’s former assistant, who told police he repeatedly encouraged her to do drugs while working together and made comments suggesting he might ‘develop a crush’ on her.
She also alleged he placed his hands on her thighs and shoulders during one trip. The woman described Busfield as ‘charismatic and charming’ in public but ‘manipulative and predatory’ in private, according to the police report.
Actress Claudia Christian, who starred alongside Busfield in the 1991 movie Strays, confirmed to the Daily Mail that she was also interviewed by detectives.
She alleged Busfield summoned her to his trailer to ‘run lines’ before filming, pinned her against a wall, rubbed his erect penis on her and shoved his tongue in her mouth without consent.
Christian said she was stunned because there had never been any flirtation between them beforehand.
Claudia Christian told the Daily Mail that she was also sexually harassed by Busfield while filming the Strays (pictured together in the 1991 movie)
Eliza Roberts told the Daily Mail that she and Christian (pictured) have talked about their alleged unwanted encounters with Busfield
Roberts said hearing similar accounts over the years reinforced her belief that speaking publicly was the right decision, but she admits it is daunting.
‘It’s definitely scary and uncomfortable… Being disbelieved is very painful when you’re telling the truth. Obviously, it’s very humiliating. It’s insulting,’ Roberts said.
She added: ‘When this article comes out and people call us, the reaction might be to just run and hide. But if there is a chance that someone who has been hurt will know that someone believes in them, then it is worth it.’
Roberts said while her husband Eric and her children support her decision to come forward, she does not know how the rest of her famous extended family feels.
‘I’m sure that they, just as people, think it’s absolutely terrible to victimize [people] and then call them a liar. There’s no question that they would not support that behavior.’
While it is unclear whether Roberts and the other women who have provided statements to New Mexico authorities will be called to the stand in Busfield’s current criminal case, Roberts said she plans to be present in the courtroom.
She is waiting for the day when she can look at Busfield in the eyes again.
‘If I had a chance to face him and speak to him again, I would say, “You have a serious issue that’s become a really destructive problem for a lot of people,”‘ she said.
‘”Instead of choosing to face it and do whatever you could to make sure it doesn’t harm other people, you just chose to harm those other people. Your compulsion isn’t a choice, but your protection of your right to satisfy that compulsion has harmed a lot of people, and that was a choice.”‘
