Kevin Tsujihara, Charlotte Kirk and James Packer. Photos / Supplied
Kevin Tsujihara, Charlotte Kirk and James Packer. Photos / Supplied
The actress at the centre of Hollywood's most recent sex scandal, that dragged Aussie billionaire James Packer into the spotlight, claims she wasn't the one who leaked scandalous text messages between her and a film studio head exposing their years-long affair.
Aspiring actress Charlotte Kirk was only 21 when she received a text from her ex-boyfriend Packer inviting her to a late night hotel meeting with Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara in Hollywood, reports news.com.au.
"I have the opportunity of a lifetime for u," Packer wrote, in a message sent just after midnight on September 21, 2013 — one of the hundreds obtained by the Hollywood Reporter.
"Come to (the Hotel) Bel air now. U will never be able to pay me."
Packer and his business partner Brett Ratner were in the middle of finalising a $450 million film deal between their company RatPac Entertainment and Warner Bros at the time.
Over the next few years, according to the messages, Kirk and the Warner Bros chairman were involved in a sexual relationship in exchange for furthering the career of the British actress.
An alleged text message exchange between Charlotte Kirk and Kevin Tsujihara in 2014. Photo / via news.com.au
Since that fateful meeting in 2013, a three year struggle between Kirk and the men ensued.
Kirk only managed to get two small appearances in Warner Bros. films when she worked on How To Be Single in 2016 and on Ocean's 8 in 2018.
Texts between the actress and Ratner, Packer and Tsujihara showed she was unhappy with her lack of casting, becoming increasingly agitated at their apparent disinterest.
At one point, Kirk was even accused of attempted extortion by Ratner and on another occasion the businessman engaged his lawyer to try and organise a settlement with the young actress.
Immediately after the text messages leaked, everyone involved in the years long scandal denied being behind the leak.
In a full statement released last week, Kirk denied having any relationship with Tsujihara or any wrongdoing from Packer or Ratner.
"I emphatically deny any inappropriate behaviour on the part of Brett Ratner, James Packer, and Kevin Tsujihara, and I have no claims against any of them," Kirk said.
But as the story gathered steam, the now 26-year-old actress has spoken again, claiming she "can't stay quiet anymore".
"I acknowledge I may have made some poor choices and I'm sorry for that," Kirk told the MailOnline. "But I've learnt from my mistakes since then and grown a lot, as a person, as a woman, and as a professional actor.
Charlotte Kirk has denied being behind the story. Photo / Getty Images
"I can't stay quiet any more. It's bad enough to be defined by others, but when the person they put on the page has no relationship to who I am, I feel compelled to speak out."
Despite Kirk's close relationship with Tsujihara, the actress had only managed to get two small appearances in Warner Bros. films by 2018.
"These articles refer to events from six years ago, back in 2013. I was a different person then — 19 years old, newly arrived in LA, possibly a little arrogant and definitely very naive," Kirk said.
The actress also claimed she "implored" The Hollywood Reporter not to publish the story and denied any suggestion she had anything to do with the lengthy article going live.
"I want to make it absolutely clear that I had nothing to do with the publication of this story," she said.
"There are assumptions being made that somehow I was responsible for the release of the texts, and that is simply not true."
Kirk will star in the upcoming crime thriller Nicole and OJ, centred on the relationship between former NFL star O.J Simpson and his wife Nicole before she was murdered.
The movie is scheduled to be released in the US later this month.
