Oprah Winfrey Network Staffer Sues Over Alleged Sexual Harassment

A staff member at the Oprah Winfrey Network fired off a lawsuit against the company, accusing her supervisor of sexually harassing her after she became pregnant.

Rebecca Taylor, who began working at the network in 2010, claims her boss Nakisha Gowen regularly engaged in lewd behavior at her expense, such as pretending to squeeze her breasts and humiliating her for having morning sickness, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

She alleges the harassment began when she was three months pregnant in 2013 and continued after she gave birth to her son later that year.

Taylor claims Gowen would reference crass portions in horror films during meetings and acted out graphic sex scenes from them, according to the lawsuit obtained by THR.

Things got worse in December of 2014, the lawsuit claims, when Gowen pretended to touch Taylor's chest as she spoke about how babies are obsessed with breasts.

"Ms. Gowen then attempted to lay her head on (Taylor's) breasts," a segment of the lawsuit reads. "Ms. Gowen committed these acts against the Plaintiff in order to create a sexually hostile and abusive work environment, and to degrade and humiliate the Plaintiff in front of her coworkers."

Taylor left the network for eleven months starting in July 2015 on a "stress leave" because the network allegedly did nothing after she reported multiple instances of sexual assault, according to THR.

She claims OWN's apathy toward her complaints led to emotional stress, prompting her to cry at work, have panic attacks and struggle to sleep.

Taylor also accused the network of not giving her as big of a raise as she thought she was entitled to when she was promoted from specialist to manager in 2015, and she believed Gowen had something to do with it.

Taylor, who returned to work in June, is suing for sexual harassment and pregnancy discrimination, among other claims.

OWN launched on Jan. 1, 2011. Winfrey serves as her network's chairman, CEO and CCO.

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