James Franco addresses sexual misconduct allegations, admits to sleeping with students

Warning: This story may be triggering for those who have experienced sexual misconduct or know someone affected by it.

Oscar-nominated actor JamesFranco has acknowledged sleeping with students of an actingschool he previously ran, saying he struggled withsexaddiction and has been working to improve his behaviour in recentyears.

In excerpts from an interview on The Jess Cagle Podcast made public Wednesday, Franco, 43, said that while teaching, he "did sleepwith students, and that was wrong." He said he did not start theschool to lure women for sexual purposes.

"I suppose at the time, my thinking was if it's consensual, OK," he said on the SiriusXM podcast. "At the time I was notclearheaded."

The remarks were Franco's first extended comments aboutaccusations levelled against him nearly four years ago when theLos Angeles Times reported that five women had accused Franco ofconduct they considered inappropriate.

WATCH | Franco discusses sex addiction and allegations with podcast host:

Later, in October 2019, two women filed a civil suit against the Pineapple Expressstar, accusing him ofexploiting aspiring actors at his now-defunct school and dupingyoung women into shooting explicit sex scenes.

Franco said he developed a sex addiction after he becamesober from an alcohol addiction he developed at a young age.

"It's such a powerful drug," he said, referring to sex."I got hooked on itfor 20 more years. The insidious part of that is that I stayed sober from alcohol all that time."

Franco co-hosted the Oscars ceremony in 2011 and was anominee that yearfor his performance in 127 Hours.

The actor agreed this year to pay $2.2 million US to settle the2019 civil lawsuit, according to documents filed in Los AngelesSuperior Court.

In theinterview, Franco also said he has been inrecovery from sex addiction since 2016 and has "been doing a lotof work" after the allegations against him "and changing who Iwas."

"I didn't want to hurt people," he said.