Jennifer Esposito Reveals a Producer Tried to End Her Career

justjared.com:

Jennifer Esposito is opening up about a producer who she says attempted to end her career. The 51-year-old Blue Bloods actress explained the situation on the She Pivots podcast.

During the appearance, Jennifer said she had just begun getting into acting professionally when she ran into “a Harvey Weinstein–esque type person.” Keep reading to find out more… “He fired me for no reason,” she said of a “notorious, brutal” producer she did not name. “He wanted someone else and he got her.” “But then, like, anybody that called was like, ‘Hey, I want to hire her.’ He was like, ‘Don’t hire her.’ He said I was a drug addict, locked myself in the trailer.

Never happened. I don’t do drugs. Never did. If you do, great. It’s just not me,” she continued. “He literally had the power, and he used it to completely end a young girl’s career at 26 years old.” Jennifer said it was “a really, really painful time, because he literally — that kid who was waiting tables, and a kid who had this dream since she was a baby — he literally, he took it, because he could, and killed it.” She turned 26 in 1999, as she appeared in Summer of Sam and The Bachelor after departing Spin City for two seasons.

She went on to appear in Don’t Say a Word and Crash, and on TV projects like Samantha Who? and NCIS. Her latest project, Fresh Kills, which she wrote, directed, and stars in, is the result of what happened in that situation, she said. “I know for a fact that if that didn’t happen with that producer and my road had been easier, I would have never written and directed what I just did.