Andrea Mackris, a woman who alleged that former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly harassed her when he was her boss in the early 2000s, gave an interview with The Daily Beast. Mackris was a producer on the show The O’Reilly Factor, and eventually sued the host in 2004. She accused O’Reilly of sexual harassment and misconduct, including speaking to her about sex and being flirtatious during dinners. She told the outlet she felt pressured into signing a nondisclosure agreement (NDA) back in 2004 and is now opening up about her experiences. By sharing her story now, she risks possible legal action against her.

One example of sexual harassment? In speaking to The Daily Beast, Mackris described a phone call in September 2004, where she says she pointed out that O’Reilly was her boss after he allegedly wanted her to masturbate on the phone with him. When she didn’t join in, she says he mocked her. After she reminded him that he was her literal boss, she said he said he knew, but wanted to “make” her “play” anyway. 

“Here was my boss, a man who held my career and future in his hands, acknowledging that he knew I’d never consented but he didn’t care,” Mackris told the outlet. In the end, Mackris says, her attorneys felt they were under pressure to take the settlement, which totaled some $9 million dollars, as well as the NDA. Mackris said she doesn’t recall being shown the NDA until years after the fact. 

According to Mackris, at one point her attorney, David Ratner told her: “No one believes you, and you’ll never be hired again, and if you walk out of this room like this, no other lawyers will work with you. You didn’t hire us to go to trial, you hired us to make him stop.” According to Mackris, Ratner told her this after she initially refused to sign the NDA. Mackris described Ratner as “yelling” at her during the negotiations and said she was crying and experiencing “full-blown PTSD.”

Over an email to The Daily Beast, her legal counsel denied her recollection of events and said no one was yelling at her or threatening her during the process. 

“I may not get the past 17 years back,” Mackris said about the time since the NDA. “But there is one way I can retrieve my power from this storm of lies, loss, greed, and grief. It’s the same thing I did back in 2004 before Fox, Bill O’Reilly and their teams of willing executioners bound me to a contract that promises to ruin whatever is left of me if I dare do it again. Tell the truth. Walk free.”

Other examples of harassment Mackris shared include, for example, O’Reilly describing a “fantasy of soaping [Mackris] down in the shower with either a ‘loofah’ or a ‘falafel thing.'” Another example, according to Mackris, happened after she broke up with her fiancé. “He was talking about vibrators and masturbating,” she told the outlet about a dinner with O’Reilly. “And he needed a younger lover.” She said he had never spoken to her like that before. But then, Mackris said, it kept happening and happening and happening.

“You saying no is really not the point,” Mackris said, describing O’Reilly as a sexual predator and malignant narcissist. “He’s not listening.”

And is Mackris worried about breaking her NDA? As she told the outlet, the NDA “cuts both ways.” Mackris described O’Reilly breaching the same NDA, characterizing her as a “liar.” Mackris told the outlet she had to leave her job as part of the agreement and shared that she’s lived in a “quiet desperation” since then. 

And O’Reilly? As we know, he was dropped from Fox News back in April 2017, after the public learned he paid more than $10 million to five women over sexual misconduct allegations. Next up for O’Reilly? Touring with Donald Trump in Texas and Florida. (Yes, really.)