Nev Schulman Says Being Accused of Sexual Misconduct Gave Him Shingles

Nev Schulman and Laura Perlongo at  2018 MTV Video Music Awards
Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

The 'Catfish' star noted that the allegations caused him to question his past behavior.

Nev Schulman gets candid about what it’s like to be accused of sexual misconduct

The 33-year-old TV personality appeared on his friend Josh Peck’s podcast, Curious, where they talked about a unique experience they shared earlier this year.  Peck ran into Schulman during his family’s vacation to Hawaii, which happened to hit at a very unusual time for the Catfish star. 

"That was tough. We flew to Hawaii essentially to escape what had just recently happened, which was two days earlier, a girl who had been on Catfish in 2015 had posted some videos on YouTube saying that during the filming I had been wildly inappropriate with her and overly flirtatious and said some vulgar sexual things to her, trying to get her to have sex with me and any number of things of that nature,” Schulman explained. 

In May, MTV suspended production on the reality show after the allegations came to light. 

"I think I actually found out first. [My wife] Laura actually got a direct message from someone on Instagram saying, ‘Hey your husband’s a creep. I can’t believe you let him near your daughter.’ She screen shot it and said, ‘Have you seen this?’” Schulman said of his wife, who recently announced she was expecting the couple’s second child

The Catfish star sent the news along to a producer and eventually MTV got involved and announced they were investigating the claims. At the time, they cut ties with Schulman in order to conduct an unbiased investigation into the accusations. 

"Now, looking back, I think they did a great job,” he said of the network, who found the claims “not credible” in June. "In the moment, I was very confused and frustrated."

Schulman admitted that he’s not perfect, saying, "I’m not a squeaky clean guy. I’ve made some mistakes in the past, which I’ve been transparent about and learned from and apologized when appropriate, but this was particularly upsetting because it was not true." 

He noted that the allegations caused him to question his past behavior. 

"I’ve had a few moments where I was out at a bar, met a girl, maybe taken it a little to far, and they’ve said, ‘Hey, that’s not cool,’ and I’ve said, ‘Oh my god, I’m so sorry,’” he said. "You spend hours racking your brain thinking, ‘Is someone else going to come forward?’" 

Calling the experience “scary and stressful,” Schulman added, "I was so stressed and so out of control and trying to get it into my control that I actually got shingles… I got it on my head. It’s very uncomfortable."

Overall, Schulman is taking some positives out of the experience, saying, "I learned a lot in the last month about myself about my friends and family, about my fans. I almost completely left social media, which I think was great in a way."

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