In July, five-time Emmy nominee Eric Weinberg was arrested on 20 charges of sexual assault, including rape. He currently remains free on a $3.25 million bail. Now, a new The Hollywood Reporter exposé reveals the long road to Weinberg’s arrest and why a detective on the case believes the claims of sexual assault, including rape, kidnapping, harassment, and stalking only “scratch the surface.”
The “Scrubs” co-executive producer and writer was arrested July 14 on sexual assault charges dating from 2012 to 2019. Approximately 30 women spoke with THR about their encounters with Weinberg, who allegedly approached them in public areas throughout Los Angeles, listed his Hollywood credentials with shows like “Californication” and “Anger Management,” and persuaded them to pose for his amateur photography. Claims range from 2000 through 2021 and include claims across Oregon and New York as well as California.
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Weinberg is accused of violent rape under the guise of photo shoots or an OKCupid date. Weinberg’s alleged targets also included at least two underage girls, one of whom was a high school classmate of Weinberg’s sons.
Claire Wilson, an artist in Los Angeles, alleged that Weinberg assaulted her, and in 2020 she issued a warning to other women in the area via a private Facebook group.
“I am reaching out to see if any other women have encountered this man Eric Weinberg. I met him over a dating app and although the evening began consensually, he later violated my consent multiple times and forced me to do things I didn’t want to,” Wilson wrote. “I want to know if anyone else has had any experiences with him. He’s a prominent screenwriter and producer and it makes me physically sick to think that he probably does this all the time.”
Later that year, Weinberg’s wife, Hilary Bidwell, found the Facebook group after Googling “Eric Weinberg sexual assault.” She called Wilson to request, “I want you to tell me everything that you know about my husband.” (Wilson’s response: “Are you sure? It’s a lot.”)
Multiple women filed rape kits after encounters with Weinberg. In 2014, numerous women brought allegations to Los Angeles law enforcement, only to be told there was insufficient evidence to fully investigate the claims. Per THR, in at least two cases the LAPD believed there was enough evidence to charge Weinberg, but the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office declined to prosecute.
Actress Azure Parsons, who met Weinberg when he was the showrunner for MTV’s one-season “Death Valley,” told THR that he sexually harassed her throughout the show’s run.
Years later, as she returned home from walking her dog in 2014, she says that a car pulled up next to her and a man began complimenting her curves and saying how he would love to photograph her. She turned and recognized Eric Weinberg, she says.
She screamed at him, “Are you fucking kidding me?” A “visibly angry” Weinberg got out of his car, “grabs my arm and tries to pull me into the car,” she says. She escaped from him and ran, calling her manager and then the police. She says the police did not follow up with her.
Parsons was left wondering whether Weinberg “looked me up and found where I lived” or if he “just does this so much” that he happened to approach her randomly, though she suspects “it’s the latter.”
Weinberg’s wife Hilary Bidwell filed for divorce from the executive producer three times over the course of their two-decade marriage. Bidwell filed for divorce again in 2020 after discovering a handwritten log of women targets, tracking their routines and descriptions of where to find them.
“We have not scratched the surface,” a detective involved in the case stated to THR. “It is overwhelming the amount of new women that have come forward.”
Court records Bidwell filed in a custody battle describe a pattern of “impulsive, violent and high-risk behavior,” with Weinberg’s eldest son adding that Bidwell endured behavior that was “certainly verbally abusive, beyond a doubt” at the hands of Weinberg.
The “Politically Incorrect” writer previously enrolled in anger management courses and underwent treatment at the Sexual Rehabilitation Institute, as well as other sex addict therapy programs. Coincidentally, two of the stars of Weinberg’s shows, David Duchovny in “Californication” and Charlie Sheen in “Anger Management,” also came forward with diagnoses of sex addiction and sought treatment.
Weinberg previously told accuser Wilson, who went on an OKCupid date with the producer, that he is “not fucking Donald Trump, I’m not going to say that everything I say or do is perfect. I’m not perfect. I know that. I’m trying my very best. I’m trying my very best with every kind of therapy I can to make sure I make all the right decisions in life. I really, really am.”
Weinberg’s divorce attorney Karen Silver issued a statement on the dozens of assault charges.
“As we have unfortunately seen these days, time and time again, a heavily litigated and acrimonious custody dispute has now given rise to strategically placed criminal allegations. These claims have previously been investigated and reviewed by both law enforcement and the Los Angeles family court and the results have continued to unveil a myriad of evidence, documentation, and expert analysis that wholly undermine the narrative now being promulgated,” Silver stated. “Though Mr. Weinberg himself is precluded from commenting on any aspect of this litigation due to court orders, family law rules and in the best interests of his minor children, he will continue through counsel to cooperate in all aspects of this investigation and, if necessary, will address these allegations in the only forum that should matter — a public courtroom.”
You can read the full report at The Hollywood Reporter.
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