Aziz Ansari is turning the page on a new chapter.

But just because he has stayed just outside of the spotlight in recent years, doesn’t mean he’s forgotten the events that led to his quiet retreat: in 2018, a woman who went by the name of “Grace” published an article in which she alleged she was pressured into sex after a night out with the Master of None star. 

Though Aziz previously addressed the allegation in a statement at the time—in which he said he was “surprised and concerned” as he thought their interactions had been “completely consensual”—and in his 2019 comedy special Aziz Ansari: Right Now, he is now sharing why he didn’t publicly address his accuser directly. 

“I mean, I apologized to the person personally, right? When it happened,” he toldThe Hollywood Reporter in a feature published Sept. 3. “I did that tour, and I wanted to address it in the special because people were curious about how I felt about the whole experience. So, I felt like I had to talk about it in the special.”

In the comedy special, the Park and Rec alum—who married forensic data scientist Serena Skov Campbell in 2022—shared some insight into his personal life in the year following the article.  

“There’s times I felt scared, there’s times I felt humiliated, there’s times I felt embarrassed, and ultimately I just felt terrible that this person felt this way,” he told the audience at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. “I always think about a conversation I had with one of my friends where he was like: ‘You know what, man? That whole thing made me think about every date I’ve ever been on.’ And I thought, ‘Wow! That’s pretty incredible.’”

He added, “If this made not just me but other people be more thoughtful, then that’s a good thing, and that’s how I feel about it.”

Now, seven years later, Aziz’s biggest return to the screen is just on the horizon: Good Fortune, which he wrote, directed and starred in, will premiere on October 17.

The 42-year-old, however, is careful in how he describes his hiatus from public facing projects. As he told The Hollywood Reporter, “It wasn’t really a break, per se.” 

But whether a break or not, Aziz was intentional with his time away—especially in the immediate year after the article. 

As he said during Aziz Ansari: Right Now, “I hope it was a step forward. It made me think about a lot, and I hope I’ve become a better person.”

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