--- title: Debra Messing Alleges Sexual Harassment Claim description: Find out what Debra Messing said about allegedly being sexually harassed by director Alfonso Arau on the set of a 1995 film canonical: https://time.com/4667215/debra-messing-alfonso-arau/ author: Entertainment Weekly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-10T16:32:55.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T09:04:46.157Z og:title: Debra Messing Alleges Director Told Her 'Your Job Is to Get Naked' og:description: A rep for Alfonso Arau said the claims were 'false' og:url: https://time.com/4667215/debra-messing-alfonso-arau/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eabea809ba246bd/6988b9b4196cf45a3a03ed0e/debra-messing-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2253 og:image:height: 1267 og:image:alt: The 2017 MAKERS Conference Day 1 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Debra Messing Alleges Director Told Her 'Your Job Is to Get Naked' twitter:description: A rep for Alfonso Arau said the claims were 'false' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eabea809ba246bd/6988b9b4196cf45a3a03ed0e/debra-messing-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Debra Messing Alleges Director Told Her 'Your Job Is to Get Naked' > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Worth Your Time: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Worth Your Time is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A weekly guide to what to watch, read, and more. Worth Your Time is a curated guide to the culture worth knowing, from the biggest conversations of the moment to the books, shows, ideas and discoveries worth your attention. Culture editor Eliza Berman taps TIME's collective taste and perspective to surface what is worth watching, reading, talking about and sharing, and why. It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=4d3b1943-2244-4b0d-93dc-58d15ad94cc5&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Tuesday and Saturday (2x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Eliza Berman, Culture Editor | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership Culturally curious consumers. An audience tuned into the ideas, entertainment and cultural conversations worth knowing, with added influence among professionals across media, entertainment, creative, brand, communications and consulting. ### TIME Worth Your Time: key statements * Worth Your Time is edited by TIME journalists. Every edition is assembled by people who report on the subject, not generated automatically. * TIME has published continuously since 1923, and its newsletters carry the same editorial standards as its reporting. Readers can trust what they read. * Worth Your Time is free. Readers select it, along with any of TIME's other newsletters, at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/newsletters?i=4d3b1943-2244-4b0d-93dc-58d15ad94cc5&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsletter network reaches more than 1.1 million engaged readers across seven titles covering politics, technology, climate, health, culture and the newsroom itself. * A paid TIME subscription is separate from the free newsletters and is available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-nl-worth-2026q3/subscribe?i=4d3b1943-2244-4b0d-93dc-58d15ad94cc5&cr=time-nl-worth-2026q3-v1). ### FAQ #### What should I watch or read, according to TIME? Worth Your Time is TIME's culture recommendation newsletter, edited by culture editor Eliza Berman. Twice a week it surfaces the books, shows, films and ideas TIME's editors think are worth your attention, and explains why. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Does TIME have a culture newsletter? Yes. Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly Feb 10, 2017 4:32 PM UTC  RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Actor Debra Messing attends the 2017 MAKERS Conference Day 1 at Terranea Resort on February 6, 2017 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for AOL) RANCHO PALOS VERDES, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Actor Debra Messing attends the 2017 MAKERS Conference Day 1 at Terranea Resort on February 6, 2017 in Rancho Palos Verdes, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for AOL) Emma McIntyre—Getty Images for AOL by [Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly](https://time.com/author/entertainment-weekly/) ## Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly Feb 10, 2017 4:32 PM UTC Actress Debra Messing has alleged that director Alfonso Arau pressured her to perform a nude scene and made disparaging comments about her appearance during the making of the 1995 film _A Walk in the Clouds_. [Speaking at the Makers Conference](http://www.makers.com/blog/2017-makers-conference-debra-messing) in Rancho Palos Verdes, California, on Monday, Messing recalled that her initial excitement about shooting her first Hollywood movie — opposite rising star Keanu Reeves — was marred by several humiliating incidents. On the first day of filming, Messing said, she and Reeves were in the middle of a dramatic kiss scene when Arau interjected, “How quickly can we get a plastic surgeon in here? Her nose is ruining my movie!” After completing the scene in a daze, Messing retreated to her trailer and cried. “I felt ugly, I felt like garbage, and I felt deep shame,” she said, adding that Arau’s comments reminded her of anti-Semitism she experienced growing up in Rhode Island. On the second day of filming, Messing said, she was browbeaten into shooting a nude scene, despite having been told previously the movie would not feature nudity. When she confronted Arau about the scene, he allegedly told her, “I’m the director, it’s my movie. Your job is to get naked and say the lines. That’s it. You should be grateful to have this part.” After grudgingly going through with the scene, only Messing’s bare back appeared in the final cut, she said. “The whole thing was a power play, a game. And the goal? To demean me, strip me of my pride and power, make me feel on a cellular level his dominance over me. I felt violated.” Arau’s manager did not respond to a request for comment, but a representative for the filmmaker [told TooFab](http://toofab.com/2017/02/09/debra-messings-harassment-claims-from-walk-in-the-clouds-shoot-are-false-director-says-exclusive/) that Messing’s description of the events was “false.” The representative said Messing was never nude during the scene in question, and that Arau did not make derogatory comments about her nose. A spokesperson for 20th Century Fox, the studio that released _A Walk in the Clouds_, declined to comment. Elsewhere in her monologue, Messing said she was pressed to wear bra inserts, a.k.a. “chicken cutlets,” during her early days on the NBC sitcom _Will & Grace_. After threatening to take up the issue with network brass, Messing said, she never saw the inserts again. An NBC spokesperson declined to comment. Watch Messing’s monologue on the [Makers Conference website](http://www.makers.com/blog/2017-makers-conference-debra-messing). _This_ [_article_](http://ew.com/movies/2017/02/09/debra-messing-alfonso-arau-nude-scene/) _originally appeared on_ [_EW.com_](http://ew.com) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4667215/debra-messing-alfonso-arau/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4667215/debra-messing-alfonso-arau/"},"headline":"Debra Messing Alleges Director Told Her 'Your Job Is to Get Naked'","datePublished":"2017-02-10T16:32:55.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T09:04:46.157Z","description":"A rep for Alfonso Arau said the claims were 'false'","url":"https://time.com/4667215/debra-messing-alfonso-arau/","keywords":["motto"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eabea809ba246bd/6988b9b4196cf45a3a03ed0e/debra-messing-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Oliver Gettell / Entertainment Weekly"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5eabea809ba246bd/6988b9b4196cf45a3a03ed0e/debra-messing-sexual-harassment.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 2017 MAKERS Conference Day 1","caption":"The 2017 MAKERS Conference Day 1","creditText":"Emma McIntyre—Getty Images for AOL","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/motto/","name":"motto"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4667215/debra-messing-alfonso-arau/","name":"Debra Messing Alleges Director Told Her 'Your Job Is to Get Naked'"}}]}] ```