‘How to Get Away with Murder’ star Karla Souza alleges she was raped by a director in Mexico

1. Karla Olivares Souza is a 32-year-old Mexican actress. 2. Souza is best known for playing Laurel Castillo on "How to Get Away with Murder" on ABC. 3. She went to an acting school in France and toured there with a theatre company. 4. Her TEDx talk "Sweet are the Fruits of Adversity" is the most-viewed Spanish-language TEDx talk. 5. In 2018, she said an unnamed director on "Murder" violently attacked and raped her.

Actress Karla Souza claims she was sexually assaulted by a director early in her career.

The “How to Get Away with Murder” star spoke to CNN en Español Tuesday, sharing that she was raped by a director while filming in her native Mexico early in her career, People reported.

The 32-year-old said the director, who she would not name, totally abused his power and held “psychological control” over her.

The actress felt she had to “give in” to his advances.

“I ended up giving in to him. (I let him) kiss me, to touch me in ways I did not want him to touch me and in one of those instances, he attacked me violently and yes, he raped me,” she said, fighting back tears.

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Souza said she was staying in a separate hotel than her co-stars, where only she and the director had rooms. The unnamed director would stop by at odd hours, claiming it was work-related.

“He knocked at my door saying he wanted to go over some scenes and I thought it’s 2 a.m., it’s not appropriate and it’s something that shouldn’t be happening,” she said.

Souza continued, adding that one night he knocked on her door and she refused to answer, which caused him to decide “to shoot my scene and then he suddenly started to humiliate me in front of the others on the set.”

The actress has come forward after countless powerful men in Hollywood have been accused of sexual harassment, assault and rape, beginning with movie producer Harvey Weinstein in October.