After Chloe Dykstra warned Wednesday against “insidious and hard to spot” abusive behavior and acknowledged others caught up in the aftermath of her accusations against former boyfriend Chris Hardwick, Lydia Hearst stepped up in defense of her husband.

Hardwick was the presumed subject of an essay by Dykstra last week that talked about an emotionally and sexually abusive relationship she’d been in that was followed by career sabotage.

Behaviors such as those Dysktra wrote about “are insidious and often hard to spot — we make excuses for them and, bit by bit, we can lose ourselves entirely,” the actress and online personality wrote Wednesday in a note posted to Twitter. She also thanked people for the “outpouring of support and love” in the past few days.

“Despite recent events, I hope that everyone personally affected by my story can find their own closure, through the support of loved ones and friends, the way I have. In addition, my heart goes out to those caught in the fallout.”


Thank you all, from the bottom of my heart. pic.twitter.com/giXmp2wb9V — Chloe Dykstra (@skydart) June 20, 2018

Meanwhile, Hearst, the daughter of Patty Hearst, told People that she had “made the decision to come out in support of my husband not out of obligation, but out of necessity” to speak about the Hardwick she knows.

“Chris is nothing but loving and compassionate and is the only person who has stood by me, never judged me, helped me heal, and feel whole. To defend my husband would be giving credence to any of these accusations. I will not do that. Chris Hardwick is a good man,” Hearst said in a statement that acknowledged victims of sexual abuse and crimes addressed by the #MeToo movement.

“I remain in complete support of my husband, and I believe that the truth will always win. #TimesUp because I know my truth and I believe in due process,” she said, noting that she’d been in “toxic relationships” in the past and didn’t take the situation lightly.


Hardwick and Hearst married in 2016 and are expecting a child. He and Dykstra dated from 2012 to 2014.

Since Hardwick was accused last week, he’s been removed from Comic-Con panels and Nerdist, the website he founded. His various talk shows, including “Talking Dead” and “Talking With Chris Hardwick,” have been put on hold as the networks, studios and others try to figure out their next steps.

“I was heartbroken to read Chloe’s post. Our three-year relationship was not perfect — we were ultimately not a good match and argued — even shouted at each other — but I loved her, and did my best to uplift and support her as a partner and companion in any way and at no time did I sexually assault her,” Hardwick said last week in a statement, describing his version of their relationship and saying he’d been “blindsided” by Dykstra’s accusations.

Silly me. I thought YouTube was only to look at naughty kitties, waterskiing squirrels, and skateboarding dogs. Then I performed a simple search. It gets especially interesting at 5:40. Social media is a gold mine! https://t.co/XUqKWkebmZ — Patricia Hearst (@PatriciaHearst) June 20, 2018


Texts obtained by TMZ show Hardwick accusing Dykstra of cheating on him, and Dykstra later attempting to reconcile, according to sources close to the host.

While a few people have quietly defended Hardwick — including Adam Carolla and columnist A.J. Benza on the former’s podcast, where Carolla called Hardwick a “gentle soul of a guy” — the “Talking Dead” host’s most pointed support has come from his mother-in-law, Patty Hearst.

“Silly me. I thought YouTube was only to look at naughty kitties, waterskiing squirrels, and skateboarding dogs,” Patty Hearst wrote Wednesday on Twitter just hours before Dykstra posted her note. “Then I performed a simple search. It gets especially interesting at 5:40. Social media is a gold mine!”

She attached a video of Dykstra from 2013 in which her son-in-law’s ex, talking about friends responding after she had emergency surgery, calls Hardwick her “amazing, loving, sweet boyfriend” and “the most wonderful boyfriend I could ever ask for.”


cdz@latimes.com

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