James Franco Admits Sleeping With His Students: 'That Was Wrong'

James Franco has broken his silence on the sexual misconduct allegations made about him nearly four years ago.

Franco, 43, sat down for a wide-ranging interview on SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Podcast," where he admitted that he thought sleeping with students of an acting school he previously ran, Studio 4, was acceptable because it was "consensual." However, he denied starting the program with the intention of having access to aspiring actresses.

"Look, I'll admit I did sleep with students. I didn't sleep with anybody in [my 'Sex Scenes' class], but, over the course of my teaching, I did sleep with students and that was wrong," Franco told Cagle.

"But like I said, I, it's not why I started the school and I, I didn't, I wasn't the person that selected the people to be in the class," the actor continued. "So it wasn't a master plan on my part. But yes, there were certain instances where, you know what I was in a consensual thing with, with a student and I shouldn't have been."

The "Pineapple Express" actor went on to explain his past thinking, saying he'd thought at the time that having a sexual relationship with a student was "OK" as long as it was between two consenting adults. However, he said he later realized that it was poor form after having conversations with other people about the concept.

Franco was accused of sexually inappropriate behavior by five women, four of whom were his acting students, in a report published by The Los Angeles Times in January 2018.

Two of his former students and alleged victims, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, filed a lawsuit in the Los Angeles County Superior Court in October 2019 against Franco alleging "widespread inappropriate and sexually charged behavior towards female students," The New York Times reported.

The lawsuit alleged that Franco created "an environment of harassment and sexual exploitation" at the school, which closed permanently in 2017. The former students accused Franco and other instructors of the acting school of pressuring women to get naked for auditions while dangling opportunities for movie roles that rarely materialized.

Franco's lawyer denied the allegations at the time, saying in a statement that they were "false and inflammatory, legally baseless and brought as a class action with the obvious goal of grabbing as much publicity as possible for attention-hungry Plaintiffs."

However, the actor settled the sexual misconduct lawsuit for $2.2 million in June, Variety reported. As part of the agreement, all parties agreed to release a joint statement in which Franco could continue to deny the allegations in the complaint.

During his latest interview, Franco told Cagle that he has struggled with sex addiction for years after becoming sober from alcohol at a young age.

The actor also admitted that he "cheated on everyone" before his current relationship with girlfriend Isabel Pakzad and he could "never be faithful to anybody." Franco said he became "completely blind to power dynamics or anything like that, but also completely blind to people's feelings."

Cagle's full interview with Franco, as part of the latest episode of SiriusXM's "The Jess Cagle Podcast," will be available Thursday.