[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]

Remember when Fred Savage got fired from the Wonder Years reboot? Well, forget everything you know, because according to the women involved in the investigation that was all total BULLS**T!

When the beloved child star-turned-TV director was let go as both an executive producer and director back in May, the explanation was pretty vague. A spokesperson for 20th Television (now a division of Disney) explained in a statement:

“Recently, we were made aware of allegations of inappropriate conduct by Fred Savage, and as is policy, an investigation was launched. Upon its completion, the decision was made to terminate his employment as an executive producer and director of The Wonder Years.”

Sounds bad, right? However, they also said they “found no evidence of any wrongdoing.” Um, what?? If they didn’t find evidence he did anything wrong then why did they fire him?

Yeah, if that didn’t make sense to you, you were RIGHT!

Related: Scrubs Executive Producer Arrested On Multiple Rape Charges

Soon after we did get some “inside info” that made it make some sense at least. Production sources told People Fred was “quick to anger” — and that he “works his crews pretty hard by always doing more takes than necessary.” They made the whole thing sound like he was an angry perfectionist. He wasn’t Weinstein, he was Kubrick! See, that’s not as bad, right?

Well, some women who made those original “allegations of inappropriate conduct” are now speaking up. And it isn’t about snapping at set decorators at the end of a long shooting day.

They paint a picture of a Fred Savage that higher-ups and the public never saw. A dark side only “below-the-line employees who don’t have power” saw. One said “his eyes would go dead” when he’d flip to that angry, cruel persona. Remember that description…

The “Friendship”

One woman, who remained anonymous while telling her story to The Hollywood Reporter, became friends with Savage — but things allegedly got darker and darker. First, others told the outlet they witnessed “very blatant favoritism” by the 46-year-old toward this employee, with one expressing:

“I’ve been in the industry a long time. I’ve never seen anything quite like this, and I’ve seen a lot.”

The woman, who had worked in the industry for a decade but was still far younger than Fred — she was in her early 30s, says it was all normal at first:

“We became acquaintances and friends. It was very platonic.”

She says he would take her to dinner and talk about her career. He even hired her to help write a PSA to give her a credit — as an aspiring writer and comic, that sort of thing is important. Speaking of which, he came to her comedy shows. She says she thought of him like a big brother. However, she claims he would also offer her expensive gifts — ones she would decline. If she was turning this stuff away, she must have sensed this was not really on the up-and-up. After all, Fred Savage was not just her boss, with the power to fire her, he’s a married man with three children.

At one point the woman was fired, rather abruptly — she still doesn’t know why. So of course she told her good pal Fred:

“I was given no prior warning or cause. I texted Fred. He was ecstatic. He was, ‘This is the beginning of your career. You’re going to move to L.A.'”

So instead of fighting for her to get her position back, he basically told her she should use this as an opportunity?

BTW, she lives in Atlanta where the show films. He was staying in town throughout the shoot, of course, but he and his wife Jennifer Lynn Stone live full-time in LA. So according to her, he was encouraging her to move to his town. Just saying. Keep in mind for later.

The Alleged Assault

One night, she recounted to THR, she was invited out drinking with the Wonder Years crew. She no longer worked on the project, but they had become friends. Fred was “buying shots for everyone,” and it was all a good time. Until she went to the restroom. She claims when she got out of the stall in the women’s room, Fred was there waiting for her, in the room… he had followed her in. She tried to play the upsetting moment off as a joke:

“I started laughing, like, ‘What are you doing? This is a women’s bathroom.'”

But apparently he wasn’t kidding. She alleges he came at her with “just like, dead eyes” and pushed her against the wall.

“I said, ‘Please, don’t do this.’ I meant ruining the friendship. I was pleading, not from fear so much, but this was no going back.”

What happened next didn’t just cross a friendship line. It sounds to us like a legal one, too. She recalled:

“He put his mouth on mine very forcefully. He went for the top of my pants. I brushed him away. Then he put his mouth on mine again, grabbed my hand and pulled it on his groin area. I was pulling back. He stopped very angrily. I shoulder-checked him so I could get out.”

He kissed her without consent and then put her hand on his junk?? That’s sounding to us like sexual assault. That’s conduct we’d say is “inappropriate” even if he was no longer her boss. Or, we have to remind everyone, married.

She says he left with another woman instead. (Still not his wife. We’ll get to that.) But he texted his former employee later that night to tell her to come over to his house, she says:

“To remain neutral I laughed it off like,’Ha ha, no, have a good night,’ because I was honestly scared of him for the first time.”

She says he kept texting and calling her for a while after that, trying to meet up.

“One time he just sent the word, ‘Tonight’.”

Ick. A few weeks later, he left a voicemail for her — one she played for THR, in which Savage allegedly told her:

“It’s your old friend Fred. We worked together for a while, and then we didn’t, and then I was a huge a**hole. A huge a**hole. And I’m really sorry. And I’ve kind of owed you an apology for a minute here and so, uh, the truth is I really like you and I really want to be friends, and I’m so sorry that I f**ked that up.”

She wasn’t alone. Most of the women who made complaints about Savage had no idea about that restroom story. No, there was a situation with another employee that was the primary motivator for many of the complaints.

The Young Woman

Another Wonder Years crew member — who said she personally never had any issues with Savage — spoke to the outlet about an odd situation she noticed between the director and a much younger female crew member.

While that woman wasn’t part of the original complaint — and wouldn’t speak to THR either — multiple women said Savage was buying her gifts that she would show off. That he was talking to her about the future they’d share.

Most shockingly, some claimed the Princess Bride star got the young employee to move with him into the Atlanta house he was staying in during filming! (This was the woman he reportedly went home with the night his alleged assault of the other woman didn’t work.)

Just going to say it again here… THIS MAN IS MARRIED!!!

Sources also told THR that the relationship — beyond being problematic in terms of power dynamic — was also toxic as hell. They say she was often scared of him. One associate says he was “extremely controlling of her daily behaviors” and that his behavior with her was “manipulative and erratic.”

One crew member says Savage did indeed snap at her — but it was because she was stepping in the way to shield the young woman from him. That’s when, she claims, “he proceeded to verbally harass me and belittle me.” That set source says Fred got really “scary”:

“When he pulled me aside multiple times when he was verbally harassing me, his eyes would go dead… [then] he flips a switch and he’s Fred Savage.”

The woman who observed his interactions with the young women over the course of the shoot say he changed her from the positive, upbeat person she was at the beginning.

A Savage Response

Fred gave a statement to THR for their exposé, not fully denying wrongdoing but definitely obfuscating, leaving enough room enough to cast doubt on the worst of these allegations:

“Since I was 6 years old, I have worked on hundreds of sets with thousands of people, and have always strived to contribute to an inclusive, safe and supportive work environment. It is devastating to learn that there are co-workers who feel I have fallen short of these goals. While there are some incidents being reported that absolutely did not and could not have happened, any one person who feels hurt or offended by my actions is one person too many. I will work to address and change any behavior that has negatively affected anyone, as nothing in this world is more important to me than being a supportive co-worker, friend, husband, father and person.”

Sounds to us like he’s continuing on with the PR defense that it’s just some yelling and anger issues. The much more forgivable version of “problematic.” Hmm.

What do YOU think of these new revelations??

[Image via Nicky Nelson/WENN.]

The post Why Fred Savage Was REALLY Fired From <i>Wonder Years</i>?! Allegations Of Sexual Assault & LIVING WITH Female Crew Member Behind Wife's Back?! appeared first on Perez Hilton.