Chloe Dykstra Alleges She Was Emotionally and Physically Abused by Media Mogul Ex-Boyfriend

Chloe Dykstra claims she was a victim of abuse by an ex-boyfriend.

In a first-person essay that has since gone viral, titled "Rose-Colored Glasses: A Confession," and published on Thursday, the 29-year-old actress alleges that she was emotionally and physically abused by a former boyfriend.

Dykstra writes that when she was in her early 20s, she began dating a guy who was nearly 20 years older than her who started showing "controlling behavior" early on, with "rules" being established within their first two weeks of dating. 

In the article, she alleges that her nights "were expected to be reserved for him, as he had a busy schedule," and that she was not allowed to speak in public, take a photo of them together, drink alcohol or have "close male friends," which left her "alienated."

"[I was] terrified to piss him off, so I did what he said. Including let him sexually assault me. Regularly," she claims. "I was expected to be ready for him when he came home from work. ... Every night, I laid there for him, occasionally in tears. He called it 'starfishing.' He thought the whole idea was funny."

"To be fair, I did go along with it out of fear of losing him," she says. "I'm still recovering from being sexually used (not in a super fun way) for three years."

Dykstra also writes that she contemplated suicide many times after she claims that her ex allegedly "made calls" to several companies she used to receive regular work from to "get [her] fired by threatening to never work with them."

After the article (which you can read in full here) was published, Dykstra took to Twitter to thank her fans for their support.

"I quietly posted an article today, unlisted on Medium," she tweeted. "It clearly made the rounds. I'm overwhelmed and I want to thank all of you for your support and kind words -- they mean so much to me. I may take some time off the internet, please know your support means everything to me."

Though she did not mention her ex by name, speculation has focused on Chris Hardwick, whom Dykstra dated from 2011 to 2014, which many believe is the time she's referring to in the essay. In the article she describes her ex as a man who "grew from a mildly successful podcaster to a powerhouse CEO of his own company."

Hardwick, who is now 46 years old and married Lydia Hearst in August 2016, has hosted the Nerdist Podcast (now rebranded as ID10T) since 2010, along with several TV shows, including Talking Dead, AMC's official aftershow for The Walking Dead. ET has reached out to Hardwick.

On Friday, Legendary Entertainment, which acquired Nerdist in July 2012, issued a statement to ET saying they removed any mention of Hardwick from their site.

"Chris Hardwick had no operational involvement with Nerdist for the two years preceding the expiration of his contract in December 2017. He no longer has any affiliation with Legendary Digital Networks. The company has removed all reference to Mr. Hardwick even as the original Founder of Nerdist pending further investigation," a Legendary spokesperson said in the statement.

Nerdist also released a statement via Twitter on Friday. "Hey everyone, Like you, we were shocked to read the news this morning," the statement read. "Nerdist prides itself on being an inclusive company made up of a positive, diverse community of people who come together to share and discuss the things we love. That type of behavior is contrary to everything we stand for and believe in, and we absolutely don't tolerate discrimination, harassment and other forms of abuse."

Read the full statement below:

ET has reached out to all parties involved.

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