Kevin Spacey has described himself as “pushing the boundaries” and “being too handsy” in the past, in a new interview.
The actor won a US civil lawsuit after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986, and last year was acquitted at Southwark crown court after being accused of sexually assaulting four men in the period between 2001 and 2013.
He has always denied any criminal wrongdoing and misconduct allegations.
In an interview for the YouTube channel Piers Morgan Uncensored, Spacey said he had “pushed the boundaries” in the past.
When asked how, he told Morgan: “Being too handsy, touching someone sexually in a way that I didn’t know at the time they didn’t want.”
“I have caressed people, I have been gentle with people, that is the way that I am,” he added in response to accusations.
“You’re making a pass at someone, you don’t want to be aggressive. You want to be gentle. You want to see if they’re going to respond positively.”
He added: “They should let you know they don’t want to do it so that you can understand it’s non-consensual and stop.”
The actor also said his home is being sold at auction to settle legal bills after allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.
He said: “This week, where I have been living in Baltimore is being foreclosed on, my house is being sold at auction.
“I have to go back to Baltimore and put all my things in storage. So the answer to that question is I’m not quite sure where I’m going to live now, but I’ve been in Baltimore … since we started shooting House of Cards there … I moved there in 2012.”
When asked why he was selling the house, he replied: “I can’t pay the bills that I owe.
“A couple of times I thought I was going to file [for bankruptcy], but we’ve managed to sort of dodge it, at least as of today.”
Spacey said he owed “many millions” of dollars due to legal bills, and seemed emotional at several points during the lengthy interview, which was conducted in person.
He was sacked from Netflix’s House of Cards when the 2017 allegations emerged during the show’s sixth season, and later edited out of the movie All the Money in the World and replaced by Christopher Plummer, who had to reshoot scenes at the last minute.
The actor also denied fresh claims of inappropriate behaviour that were aired in a Channel 4 documentary titled Spacey Unmasked, which he criticised.
A spokesperson for Channel 4 previously said: “Spacey Unmasked is an important film exploring the balance of power and inappropriate behaviour in a work environment, aiming to give a voice to those who have previously been unable to speak out.”
In 2022, Spacey was sued at the high court in London by a man who claimed he had been sexually assaulted by Spacey and suffered “psychiatric damage”.
The case was paused during his criminal trial, but has since restarted after a hearing in May.
Famous faces including Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson and Stephen Fry have been campaigning for his return to acting in statements to the Telegraph newspaper in May.
Spacey has two Academy Awards, for best supporting actor for The Usual Suspects in 1996 and best actor in 2000 for American Beauty, which also secured him a Bafta for leading actor.
