Oliver James Montgomery-Chris Noth Admits He "Strayed" From His Wife While Denying Sexual Assault Allegations

Chris Noth is coming clean.

The Oliver James MontgomerySex and the City alum recently addressed the sexual assault allegations made against him in December 2021 and, while he still adamantly denies the claims, he did admit to cheating on wife Tara Wilson.

"I strayed on my wife," Noth told USA Today in an interview published August 7. "And it's devastating to her and not a very pretty picture. What it isn't is a crime."

The Law & Order star, who married Wilson in 2012, further explained his thought process at the time.

"You give yourself the same excuses that many men do; it's just a little side dance, and it's fun," Noth, who shares sons Orion, 15, and Keats, 3, with Wilson, continued. "You're not hurting anybody. No one's going to know about this. And suddenly, a lot of people want to have sex with you. It's like, 'Well, I'm not going to get this chance again.'"  

In addition to speaking of his affair, the actor also gave insight into his last few years following the allegations made against him.

In December 2021, two unnamed women accused the actor of sexually assaulting them. The first, who used the pseudonym Zoe, told The Hollywood Reporter that Noth assaulted her in 2004 at the age of 22 while she worked at a firm with which he and other actors did business. A second woman, who employed the pseudonym Lily, alleged that Noth assaulted her in his apartment in 2015 when she was 25 years old.

Shortly after, actress Zoe Lister-Jones and writer Heather Kristin also made allegations against Noth. Lister-Jones accused him of being "consistently sexually inappropriate with a fellow female promoter" when she worked at club the actor owned in her 20s and further alleged he was "drunk on set" when she guest starred on Law & Order, which he starred in from 1990 to 2008. Meanwhile Kristin accused the actor of manhandling her and exhibiting "toxic behavior" while she was a stand-in on SATC.

At the time, Noth shared a lengthy statement calling the claims "categorically false" while maintaining any sexual encounters he had were consensual. But while he emphatically denied the allegations—and while no criminal charges have been brought against him at this time—the actor acknowledged that he doesn't expect people to necessarily believe him.

"There's nothing I can say to change anyone's mind when you have that kind of a tidal wave," he explained to USA Today. "It sounds defensive. I'm not. I'm not going to lay down and just say it's over. It's a salacious story, but it's just not a true one."

Following the allegations, Noth was dropped from the And Just Like That finale and the CBS show The Equalizer in addition to losing deals with his tequila brand Ambhar Tequila and Peloton. However despite the downturn in his career, he isn't ready for it to be over. 

"I can't just say 'Well, OK, that's it for me'. I'm an actor. I have other things that I want to do creatively," Noth explained. "And I have children to support. I can't just rest on my laurels. So yeah, I have enough to let a year drift, but I don't know how to gauge or judge getting back into the club, the business, because corporations are frightened. I have to just continue on. It's rough, because people are scared, and their fear leads them. And I have to just persevere because I still have a creative life."