Lydia Hearst is standing by her husband’s side amid abuse allegations made by his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra.
“This is not a statement in defense, this is a statement of defense,” Hearst told People of the allegations against Chris Hardwick. “Defense for all the women who have been sexually abused, raped, trafficked, and tortured; defense of all the people who this movement was started for. Over the last year the #MeToo movement has rightly aimed a spotlight directly on women whose stories needed to be told.
“As someone who has been involved in toxic relationships in the past, I know first hand the importance of sharing these stories and do not take this situation lightly.”
Hearst, who married Hardwick in 2016, said she’s coming her husband’s defense because she claims the allegations leveled by Dykstra, which included sexual assault, aren’t true.
“I have made the decision to come out in support of my husband not out of obligation, but out of necessity to speak the truth about the person I know,” Hearst continued. “Chris is nothing but loving and compassionate and is the only person who has stood by me, never judged me, helped me heal, and feel whole.
“To defend my husband would be giving credence to any of these accusations. I will not do that. Chris Hardwick is a good man,” she said. “I remain in complete support of my husband, and I believe that the truth will always win. #TimesUp because I know my truth and I believe in due process.”
Hardwick has denied Dykstra’s claims.
After Dykstra published her essay last week, which didn’t mention Hardwick by name, he was wiped from Nerdist’s website, which he founded, and AMC pulled his talk show and his Comic-Con appearances.
“I lost myself, both mentally and physically. I lost 15 lbs within weeks, started pulling out my hair (and had to get extensions regularly to hide it),” Dykstra wrote. “I generally stopped speaking unless spoken to while with him, drifting through life like a ghost. I would try to sleep in as late as possible so my days were shorter. I stopped listening to music entirely. I ceased to be. I was an ex-person.”