Rita Wilson Says Scott Rudin Created a Hostile Workplace After She Told Him She Had Cancer

Rita Wilson has joined the chorus of those speaking out against the abusive workplace treatment they allege to have experienced at the hands of producer Scott Rudin.

Speaking to The New York Times on Saturday, Wilson says that Rudin, who has announced that he will step back from participating in “film and streaming” as well as “Broadway productions effective immediately,” appeared to have been trying to find a way to legally fire her from a 2015 production of Larry David’s Fish in the Dark after she told him she’d been diagnosed with breast cancer.

In 2015, Ms. Wilson learned she had breast cancer while starring in a Rudin production of Larry David’s play “Fish in the Dark.” When she told Mr. Rudin the news, she said, he complained that she would need time off during Tony voting season and asked to see her medical records, while Anna Shapiro, the director, grew upset about having to find a replacement.

A few days later, as she was about to go onstage, Ms. Wilson received a call from her agent, saying her surgeon needed to call the insurance adjuster immediately, per Mr. Rudin’s demands. The memory still pains her.

“He is the kind of person who makes someone feel worthless, unvaluable, and replaceable,” she added.

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