Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - The Danny Masterson story

Episode Date: March 20, 2025

The Danny Masterson case revolves around the former That '70s Show actor, who was accused of SAing multiple women between 2001 and 2003. After years of legal battles and allegations that the Church of Scientology helped cover up the crimes, he was convicted in May 2023. In September 2023, he was sentenced to 30 years to life in prison

An all-new season of The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives is now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus. Mom Talk has just been blowing up. Whitney and Jen are on dancing with the stars. Taylor is a bachelorette. Saying that out loud is crazy. That is huge. But all the cool opportunities could close apart. It's causing issues in everyone's marriage.

My whole world is falling apart right now. It's chaos. Watch the Hulu original series. The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives. Now streaming on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for Bumno subscribers. Terms apply. Do you remember that show, That 70s show? Well, you probably know that one of the lead actors is in big trouble.

Now the story starts with a woman named Chrissy, and Chrissy's 18, she just moved away from home to pursue a career in Hollywood. And so far, it's going pretty well. She's getting a bit of work. But one night, everything changes. Because she's out at a party, and that is when she meets this guy, Danny. And Danny's a few years older than her, and he's already been acting. in Hollywood a long time since he was young. And so Chrissy, she thinks Danny's kind of fine.

And they start dating. Here's actually a picture of them together. And from here, things move pretty quickly because two weeks later, Danny invites Chrissy to come live with him. And this is great news for her because, you know, she's new to the city. She doesn't know anyone. And soon after, she really starts to rely on Danny for like everything. But then he kind of drops a bomb on her. He tells her that in order for them to be in a relationship, She has to join his religion. Scientology. So she starts going to the church to meet up with them

and she signs their paperwork because I guess they make you sign legal documents when you join. And she starts taking their Scientology courses and she like officially joins them. Once she's in the church, they really take over her life. And suddenly, Scientology and Danny become her whole world. And they tell her how to live and how to act and they tell her that she has to cut off contact with her friends and family because they aren't members.

And of course, Chrissy does because, you know, when your religion tells you to do something, you do it. I mean, this is classic cult behavior. But then something kind of crazy happens to Danny, because it's 1998. And Danny, because he's an actor, he auditions for a show called Teenage Wasteland. And bam, he gets the part. And eventually they rename the show and call it That 70s show. and that 70s show blows the fuck up, and it becomes a huge hit. And so very quickly, Danny becomes super famous with like super famous friends,

and he becomes one of the highest ranking members of this multi-billion dollar religion. And maybe, maybe, all of this starts to go to his head. Because as time goes on, he becomes more and more controlling, specifically of Chrissy. He also becomes more and more sexually aggressive. And while Chrissy, she doesn't like any of this, but she does the thing where she makes excuses for his bad behavior because, you know, she's in love with him and she trusts him. And remember, she's still isolated from her family and friends. So she has no one.

But then, in 2001, Chrissy's 23 now, sh-it starts to get really dark. Because according to her, one night, she and Danny are chilling at home, having a glass of wine, and then strangely, she starts to be. feeling the effects of alcohol coming on super strong, even though she hasn't had enough of it for it to make her feel that way. And then suddenly, boom, she blacks out. The next morning, she wakes up feeling like she was poisoned or something. And not only does her whole body hurt, but she's also bleeding and injured in her anus. And she doesn't understand what happened to her, and so she goes downstairs to Danny, and she asks, what happened last night? And Danny laughs at And he says, oh, I had intercourse with you last night.

And Chrissy says, was I unconscious? And he laughs and says, yeah. And obviously, Chrissy is not okay with this. In fact, she's devastated. I mean, Danny is her whole life. The guy who she's put all her trust in, and he's violated her in a disgusting way. And so she gets mad, and she's like,

I am going to report this motherfucker. And she does. She goes to the ethics department of the Church of Scientology, which is like the church's justice department. and she tells the ethics officer what Danny did to her. But unfortunately, the officer allegedly tells her that, well, it can't be S.A. because Danny's your boyfriend. And the officer also tells her, if this happened to you, then it's your fault.

I mean, you must have done something to deserve it. And if that isn't bad enough, then this ethics officer allegedly threatens her. Like, if you go to the police about this, then you'll become an enemy of the church, and you'll be punished by any means necessary. And as you probably already know, the Church of Scientology, they are known to not fuck around when it comes to getting revenge on people. And so Chrissy is terrified. I mean, if she goes to the police, the church might come after her. Not to mention that the church also happens to be a major donor to the Hollywood Police Department. I mean, this is actually a real photo of them donating.

So now she's worried they could all turn against her. And so, poor Chrissy, she decides not to report it first. Instead, she bottles it all inside. Thankfully, though, she does eventually leave Danny. Then, more years go by, and it's now 2009. And Chrissy, she actually meets a new guy, a much nicer guy, this guy, Cedric. And Cedric is actually the lead singer of two bands, the Mars Volta and at the Drive-In. Great bands, by the way.

And Chrissy and Cedric, they fall in love and they eventually get married. And one day, Chrissy and Cedric are chilling, and And she's explaining to him why she has such bad anxiety. And she ends up telling him about what happened all those years ago with Danny. And, you know, she starts blaming herself and she says, I know what happened is my fault. And Cedric, he has a big reaction to this. He's like, no, the hell it's not.

That's called S.A. And he assures her that what happened to her was both wrong and illegal. And so finally, for the first time ever, Chrissy is sitting in front of someone who not only believes her, but who supports her. And this influences her to finally go to the police and report Danny. And she also starts speaking out about it on social media, calling out both Danny and Scientology. And by the way, she's left the church at this point. But then it gets even crazier because after Chrissy comes out publicly, boom, two more women come forward.

And they say that Danny had done similar things to them. like putting things in their drinks and making them pass out and then essaying them. And by the way, the details of what Danny did to these women is awful. Like, I can't even repeat it in my video without it getting taken down. But just know that what he actually did to them is way worse than what I could have described in this video. But anyway, so now police investigate Danny and he has three credible allegations of essay against him. And so, bam, they arrest him. Here's his mugshot.

And by the way, later, a fourth woman comes forward. Regardless, now, after more than 15 years, if they convict him, it looks like Chrissy is finally going to see justice. Until. Here's the thing about Scientology. They don't really like their members being snitched on. And because Chrissy had reported Danny to the police, she's now considered an enemy of the church. And according to her, this is when they make her life. a living hell. Because over the next few years, all kinds of crazy stuff starts happening.

People from the church allegedly start loitering outside her home, looking in her windows, cars start following Chrissy around wherever she goes. One even tries to run her off the road. She and Cedric get threatening messages on social media, with people saying they're going to come and take their children away. Vans full of electronics park outside their home for hours, so they feel like they're being spied on? People affiliated with the church, allegedly called their friends and family asking for information about them, people even start following their kids around. And so yeah, eventually Chrissy and Cedric are like, fuck all this, and they move from California over to Texas. But unfortunately, the thing is, they're in Texas,

similar things start happening. Like one day, Chrissy sees two men looking over her fence in her backyard, and one of them says, nice dogs. And soon as after she finds one of her dogs has been poisoned. Someone apparently took raw meat stuffed with rat poison and they fed it to the dog. This is actually a picture of what they found that day. And by the way, their other dog also dies unexpectedly by unexplained trauma to its throat. So it's possible Scientology took out both their dogs. Now, despite all of that crazy alleged Scientology stalking, Eventually, Danny goes to trial for his crimes, twice actually. And ultimately, he's found guilty of two of the three charges, and he's sentenced to 30 years to life.

Good.