Celebrity: Former co-star Chad Michael Murray came to her rescue

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A former Hallmark star has revealed Chad Michael Murray came to her rescue during an alleged sexual assault. Hilarie Burton Morgan spoke about the harrowing story on a recent podcast.

She said Murray demanded, “What are you doing?”

Burton Morgan shared the story on an episode of the Drama Queens podcast. The US magazine reported. She opened up about what happened to fellow hosts Sophia Bush and Bethany Joy Lenz. Lenz is also a Hallmark star.

Burton Morgan said the incident happened in 2007 while they were filming an episode of the fourth season of One Tree Hill in Honey Grove, Texas. Although Burton Morgan didn’t mention her boss by name, Us Magazine reported that she was speaking about the show’s showrunner, Mark Schwahn.

She said Murray went to her boss while they were at a bar and confronted him.

“Chad came up and said, ‘What are you doing?'” she said. “He watched our boss grab me in front of a lot of people and you know, Chad had nothing to lose because he knew our boss hated him anyway… [Our boss] was so comfortable that it wasn’t something he had a problem with.”

Bush replied, “Thank goodness Hilarie for having that moment with Chad who was already so at odds with our boss.”

Bush added that since Murray was first on the call list, “he had the most power, so he could come and shove our boss off you and get in a fight. And I’m glad he did.”

Burton Morgan and Murray were then a couple and later married from 2005 to 2006, Us Magazine reported. She said she doesn’t expect anyone to stand up for her because everyone had salaries they would have to keep to survive.

She said before they started filming at Honey Grove, she had to fly into town alone with Schwahn.

The US magazine reported that she claimed: “On the flight back from back then, he attacked me. He attacked me again in the car on the drive from Raleigh to Wilmington.”

Bush, Burton Morgan, Lenz and others first shared similar allegations in a Letter shared with Variety in 2017 where they supported Audrey Wauchope, a series writer. Wauchope took to Twitter to accuse Schwahn of harassment. in a (n Interviewed by Variety in 2017, Burton Morgan claimed Schwahn inappropriately touched her against her will on more than one occasion. At the time, NBCUniversal suspended and later fired Schwahn, the creator and showrunner of their series The Royals. The Hollywood Reporter reported.

“We have completed our investigation and Mark will not be returning to ‘The Royals,'” a spokesman for Lionsgate TV said said variety in a statement in 2017.

Burton Morgan left a mark after speaking out for more diversity

Burton Morgan left Hallmark in 2019 after advocating more diversity before the network experienced changes that brought more diversity in film roles and storylines.

Burton shared on Twitter that she gave up a Hallmark job after requesting that her film have diverse casting, including an LGBTQ character and a multiracial couple.

“I was polite, direct and professional. But after the people in charge gave their comments on the script and NONE of my requests were granted, I was told “take it or leave it”. I let it go,” she wrote.

She added that her husband, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, was making enough money that she had the luxury of quitting her job over her faith, for which she was grateful.

“Not everyone has that!” she wrote. “Nor should we be forced to be dependent. If I had to cover our mortgage and I was told ‘take it or leave it’, I’d be screwed.”

In 2021, Burton Morgan starred opposite her husband in an episode of The Walking Dead. She also starred in Lifetime’s “A Christmas Wish” in 2019 and recently guest-starred on “Good Sam.”

Murray has acted in numerous films at Hallmark, including Road to Christmas, Love in Winterland, Sand Dollar Cove, Write Before Christmas and more. In 2021, he also starred in Lifetime’s Toying with the Holidays and Great American Family’s Angel Falls Christmas.

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