Topher Grace’s wife Ashley Hinshaw is sharing a message in support of rape survivors following the news that Danny Masterson was sentenced to 30 years in prison on two counts of rape.
Hinshaw, 34, took to her Instagram Story on Friday to share a photo of a tree against the sky.
“To every rape victim that is that is retraumatized by witnessing society debate and focus their attention on what is going to happen to the RAPIST … I see you,” Hinshaw wrote over the photo.
While Hinshaw didn’t specify that she was referring to the Masterson case, her statements came shortly after the news broke that Grace’s former 70’s Show colleagues, including Ashton Kutcher, Mila Kunis, Kurtwood Smith and Debra Jo Rupp, wrote individual pleas to the judge for leniency during his sentencing. Additional letters of support came from Masterson’s brother-in-law, Billy Baldwin, and actor Giovanni Ribisi.
The backlash against Kutcher and Kunis for writing letters has been significant, particularly due to the couple’s well-known advocacy on behalf of the victims of sex crimes. (Kutcher is the co-founder of a non-profit organization to combat sex trafficking called Thorn with his former wife Demi Moore, while Kunis produced and played the leading role in Netflix’s Luckiest Girl Alive, the 2022 thriller in which she plays a rape survivor.)
Following the swift backlash on Saturday, Kutcher shared a video of himself and Kunis to his Instagram account, in which they recognized “the pain that has been caused by the character letters that we wrote on behalf of Danny Masterson.” Kutcher noted that they wrote the letters a “couple of months ago” at the request of Masterson’s family, who had asked them to “write character letters to represent the person that we knew for 25 years, so that the judge could take that into full consideration relative to the sentencing.”
Despite their support for Masterson, the couple clarified that their letters were not intended to undermine the sentencing, or re-traumatize the victims. “We would never want to do that. And we’re sorry if that has taken place,” said Kutcher.
“The letters were not written to question the legitimacy of the judicial system or the validity of the jury’s ruling,” Kunis noted. “We support victims. We have done this historically through our work and will continue to do so in the future.”
Grace did not pen a letter in support of Masterson. In 2018, Grace told the Hollywood Reporter that he didn’t want to come across as defending Masterson’s actions, and had no idea about the things he was accused of doing during their time together onscreen.
“You know, I hesitate to say that I never saw any of that behavior because I feel like it sounds like I’m defending him, but the truth is I never saw any of that stuff,” Grace shared.
He went on to say that he was still in touch with several of his co-stars, and that his time on the beloved Fox sitcom was very special.
“We were all very close, having that experience every single day with each other. It was great to broadcast it out once a week, but, like, I’m still great friends with those guys,” Grace continued. However, he noted there was a bit of a divide between them. “I was, of that cast, the most boring. So when it came to going out after the show and partying, I just was boring.”
Grace returned to take on his role as Eric Forman in That ’90s Show back in January, alongside Kunis, Kutcher, Rupp and Smith. Masterson did not return to the show.
