nicolettemarcI wanted to wait and write about this L.A. court complaint until I had gathered some reaction. First and foremost, Marc Cherry is privately denying Nicollete Sheridan’s claims. In fact, his team is meeting today to discuss the situation surrounding what they say is a “nuisance” suit. Sheridan has sued the creator of Desperate Housewives for assault and battery, gender violence, and wrongful termination, alleging he struck her across the head and face on the set, and, that after she complained, he fired her. But insiders tell me that Cherry’s so-called “extremely abusive and aggressive manner” is grossly exaggerated. What happened is there was a scene in which Neal McDonough, who played Nicollette’s husband for the 5th season, was supposed to slap the actress. The way I hear it, during filming on September 24, 2008, Sheridan wasn’t reacting the right way. So Cherry was on the set supervising and in that context only he struck her. “He was showing her on set how it should be played. Ninety people on the set know what happened,” one insider explains to me.

According to the lawsuit, Cherry went to her trailer to “beg forgiveness” for “forcefully hit her with his hand across her face and head”. Sheridan says she immediately reported the incident to ABC, which failed to take action, and she was killed off the show unfairly. A Cherry insider tells me, “It’s sad that she can’t accept the fact that her contract was fulfilled.” Here is ABC’s official reaction: “While we have yet to see the actual complaint, we investigated similar claims made by Ms. Sheridan last year and found them to be without merit.”

In addition, I hear that Teri Hatcher has phoned ABC assuring them that a conversation she is alleged in the lawsuit to have had never happened. She also offered to make herself available to the network to help fight Nicollete’s lawsuit, which alleges that Hatcher complained about Cherry to ABC high-ups.

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