Amber Dixon Brenner, the actress who accused writer and producer Salim Akil of sexual assault, said his wife Mara Brock Akil knew about it and did nothing.
As previously reported, Brenner claimed she had a 10-year extramarital affair with Salim, he was physically abusive and forced her to commit sexual acts, something he’s always denied.
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Brenner also doubled down on her claim that Salim stole her idea for the now-canceled OWN series “Love Is.” On Dec. 19, the network pulled the plug on the show amid the abuse claims.
“I got to a point where I could no longer live with myself and be the mother I wanted to be, be the Amber I always dreamed of being if I tolerated the history of the abuse,” Brenner told Deadline.
The actress also explained that she came forward because she realized things weren’t going to improve. Brenner said she wanted an apology for the alleged abuse and when it didn’t come, she stopped biting her tongue.
“If you love someone you keep trying to give them chance after chance, and then you realize you don’t love me,” she stated. “You’re not sorry. You’re not coming to me in a private manner or to my lawyer wanting to apologize. I wanted an apology, and I wanted it acknowledged that he was abusive.”
As it relates to Mara, Brenner claimed she saw her on the cover of a magazine and inside the issue she was talking about the #MeToo movement, which Brenner thought was hypocritical.
“It started when Mara was on the cover of some magazine and she stood along with other women in the industry talking about #MeToo or Time’s Up,” Brenner explained. “I read it and I was appalled and I felt disregarded and that the issues from the relationship that in the past I had tried to resolve or discuss regarding violence she was very silent about.”
Brenner — who also said she was pleased that “Love Is” was canceled — claimed she reached out to Mara several times before going public, but her texts were blocked. Brenner also said she wrote Mara a letter as well, which according to her, proves the writer and producer knew about the affair.
The actress then talked about Salim allegedly stealing “Love Is” after she pitched him the idea.
“So I was actually congratulating them, and I was wanting to believe that it was a sitcom or that it was far removed from anything I wrote, shared and asked him to work on with me, which he declined the opportunity saying he was too obviously busy,” Brenner stated. “I was in denial up until a few days before [it aired].”
