The Last Of Us star Ashley Johnson and six other women – including her own sister – are suing her ex-boyfriend Brian Wayne Foster for abuse, accusing him in court documents of ‘depraved’ and ‘sociopathic’ behavior.
The civil lawsuit – which was filed in Los Angeles on October 3 – comes less than a month after the actress, who plays Anna Williams in the hit HBO series, had her request for a restraining order against Foster dismissed in a hearing.
Court documents claim that Johnson, 40, feared Foster could harm her after he started carrying around two airsoft guns and a strangulation device following their split back in March.
Foster, also 40, is accused of domestic violence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, sexual battery, assault, stalking, gender violence, and civil rights violations – with his behavior described as ‘chilling and depraved’.Â
Not every charge applies to every plaintiff. All seven plaintiffs live in California, and only one is listed as an anonymous Jane Doe.Â
The Last Of Us star Ashley Johnson is suing her ex-boyfriend Brian Wayne Foster for abuse
The 40-year-old – who starred as Anna in HBO series The Last of Us – has accused her ex of domestic violence, infliction of emotional distress, sexual battery, assault, and stalkingÂ
The long-term couple split in March 2023, with Johnson filing a domestic violence restraining order against Foster two months later
‘This lawsuit is filed to both remedy the abuse Foster has inflicted on my seven clients as well as to prevent others from being victimized by Foster’s pattern of mental, emotional, and physical abuse,’ Bryan Freedman, one of the attorneys representing the seven women, wrote in a statement to Insider.Â
According to Page Six, the civil suit alleges that Foster threatened to ‘extort’ $150,000 from Johnson by ‘releasing personal information’, with Johnson granted an emergency protective order against him in May.
The alleged extortion as well as his ‘consistent acts of physical intimidation including but not limited to punching through glass, throwing objects, and screaming obscenities in her face’ are said to have left Johnson ‘scared, intimidated, off-balance, confused, traumatized, and under constant duress for years’.
Freedman told Page Six: ‘The police officer who reviewed the evidence was so concerned for Ashley Johnson’s safety that he went on his own to a judge to get an immediate emergency protective order against Brian W. Foster.’
After Foster was ‘forced to leave’ her house, he ‘commandeered Johnson’s home security cameras and microphones to monitor her and track her comings and goings’.Â
The court documents also state: ‘Johnson has good reason to believe that Foster would act on his threats or harm her if she were to provoke him or fail to succumb to his will because after breaking up in March 2023, Foster began suspiciously carrying around a large black duffel bag and an ammo case containing two airsoft guns modified to appear as real guns and a garotte which is a strangulation device’.
The civil suit also accused Foster of being ‘fueled by drugs and alcohol’ and claims that he made ‘wildly inappropriate and unwanted sexual comments’ to Johnson’s sister Haylie Langseth and groped her in front of her children.
Johnson’s ex is the former host and producer of Talks Machina, a weekly YouTube talk show where he discussed the events of the Dungeons & Dragons web series Critical Role. The couple dated for ten years.
He has since left the show and, after Johnson’s protective order was made public in May, his presence was removed from the Critical Role YouTube channel.Â
Foster’s abuse also allegedly extends to women whom ‘he lied to and groomed while still in a relationship with Johnson’ and the suit claims he used his celebrity as power.Â
The plaintiff referred to as ‘Jane Doe’, has alleged that in 2019, Foster – who she claims was ‘reeking of booze’… ‘audaciously and repeatedly groped’ her.
The suit reads: ‘He forcibly attempted to stick his hands down her pants to touch her vagina. Jane Doe fought his public sexual advances and pleaded with him to stop numerous times.’
Months after Foster and Doe had stopped communicating, he allegedly sent her sexually violent messages, with one apparently reading: ‘I haven’t seen you in a while but I can’t wait to shove my c**k in your a**s.’
Johnson’s sister Haylie Langseth (right) is listed as one of the plaintiffs in the civil law suit
Johnson’s sibling, pictured here in a throwback photo, alleges that Foster groped her in front of her children
Another plaintiff named Adrienne Cho, who worked for Critical Role as a Product Design and Development Manager around April 2019 while Foster was a producer, claims in the suit that he harassed her and groped her groin while sitting next to her at an event back in February 2020.
‘Cho sat in the audience stunned and horrified by Foster’s conduct. Unfortunately, Foster continued to grope her for the entire length of the event which was well over an hour. Cho was afraid to come forward with Foster’s misconduct because of his reputation as a threatening and intimidating bully,’ the suit reads.
Danielle Carr, who worked for Critical Role as a producer, alleges that Foster talked about wanting to have sex with her and touch her breasts: ‘He explicitly and repeatedly told Carr, “I want to bend you over the couch”.’
She also claims that he demanded topless photos of her. The suit alleges: ‘Due to the manipulation by and fear of Foster, Carr felt she had no other choice but to reluctantly comply with his demands. In response, Foster sent Carr an unsolicited naked picture of himself wearing only a trench coat.’
The suit adds that during a Starbucks run in 2019, Foster allegedly demanded Carr pull over. The claim reads: ‘Foster instructed Carr to pull her top up and instantaneously reached over and groped her breast.
‘Foster then proceeded to lean over and lick her breast. When Carr told Foster to stop, he “laughed”.’
And in May 2021, Foster allegedly invited Carr to Johnson’s home to watch the filming on a show they had been working on together, and then tried to massage and grope her.Â
A fifth woman named Whitney McKeil also claims in the suit that Foster groped her buttocks at a 2021 event he attended alongside Johnson, while another plaintiff, Maude Garrett, alleges she kissed Foster after he told her he was in an open relationship.
Johnson’s request for a restraining order was dismissed in September 2023, when the judge determined she had failed to provide enough evidence for it to be granted
Johnson previously alleged that her former partner was ‘close to the edge, had the ability to murder, and would cause harm’ to her and her family
When Garrett confronted him two months later, she claims he launched a tirade of abuse at her and grabbed a glass as if to throw it at her.
The suit claims: ‘Being the sociopath that he is, Foster often treated these women as sexual objects freely groping them without consent, sometimes in openly public settings. Any woman who refused to submit to his will or who confronted him for any reason was met with a wrath of obscenities, intimidation, and threats.’Â
DailyMail.com has reached out to Foster for comment.Â
Posting on the official Instagram page for Foster’s band The Wild Years, a statement from his attorney Marc Collins read:Â ‘Beyond the fact that Ms. Johnson’s request for a restraining order was denied by the Court on the same allegations contained in the civil complaint filed on October 3, 2023, we have no further comment.’Â
Last month, Johnson’s request for a restraining order was dismissed when the judge determined she had failed to provide enough evidence for it to be granted.
In the court documents, obtained by The Blast in May, Johnson had alleged that her former partner was ‘close to the edge, had the ability to murder, and would cause harm’ to her and her family.
Johnson went on to detail the ‘abuse’ she suffered during their relationship, which included Foster allegedly breaking glasses and gates as well as ‘slamming doors’ and calling her a ‘stupid, useless, f**king bitch’ and ‘f**king c**t’.
On May 15, ‘the police issued an (Emergency Protective Order) due to (Foster) having attempted to extort $150,000’ from her and ‘his history of verbal abuse, his very unhinged mind from his addictive use of narcotics and several other reasons.’
Foster had denied her claims and stated: ‘Because of these filings, many of the people I hold dear to me now believe me to be relapsed and an abuser.
‘I do not own any firearms, or a gun license, and all of the allegations in the DV Petition that say I was carrying an “ammo box” are untrue. Petitioner knows that I was planning to take a two-week camping trip.’
