“Desperate Housewives” Actress Hit In The Head By Show Producer?

“Desperate Housewives” Actress Hit In The Head By Show Producer?

“Housewives” actress Nicollette Sheridan told jurors on Thursday that she was shocked and humiliated after being hit in the head by the creator of "Desperate Housewives" on the set of the hit ABC show. ABC is a unit of The Walt Disney Co.

The actress was the first witness called during the trial alleging that she was fired after a dispute with creator and executive producer Marc Cherry. She is now seeking more than $6 million in damages.

At the request of Patrick Maloney, the actress’ attorney, she demonstrated how she was hit by striking her lawyer in court. Sheridan said it was a hard blow, although attorneys for Cherry and ABC claimed it was just a light tap meant to give the actress some direction for a scene.

The actress told jurors that Cherry was stunned after the hit and later apologized.

Sheridan spent the day testifying about the show's early years and the dispute with Cherry and its aftermath.  Her character Edie Britt was “killed” in the show's fifth season, when she was earning $175,000 an episode.

Although Cherry had left her character's fate in doubt at the end of seasons three and four, he never mentioned killing her off until after he hit her, testified the actress.

Cherry and ABC have the allegation and said that they will present evidence that the decision to kill off her character was decided months before his argument with Sheridan and had to be approved by top executives at the network.

"Desperate Housewives," a sleek prime-time comedy/soap opera with an ensemble cast including Hatcher and Longoria, got top ratings when it premiered in 2004 but has seen its audience dwindle. It is in its last season.

Cherry is expected to testify, and series stars Teri Hatcher, Marcia Cross, Eva Longoria and Felicity Huffman are listed as potential witnesses.

Posted by Kade Quinn on Saturday March 03 2012, 5:00 AM EDT. Ref: yahoo. All trademarks acknowledged. Filed under Entertainment. Comments and Trackbacks closed. Follow responses: RSS 2.0