Seth Rogen Was Reportedly Left ‘Hurt’ By James Franco Over The End Of Their Friendship

The nearly two-decade-long friendship between Hollywood actors Seth Rogen and James Franco has since ended, as disclosed by Franco.

A source close to Rogen has now shared that he was left “hurt” over the end of their friendship but that he had to cut ties with Franco for the sake of his career.

Seth Rogen and James Franco had a bitter falling out after the latter was sued by some of his students for allegedly sexually inappropriate behaviors towards them.

According to the Daily Mail, a source disclosed that Rogen was “hurt” by his former buddy James Franco over the sexual misconduct allegations he was slammed with by some students of his Studio 4 acting school.

The actors had been good friends for more than 20 years, and both starred in a couple of comedy films together but had a rough patch in their relationship after Franco was accused of sexual misconduct, prompting Rogen to seemingly cut ties with him for the sake of his career.

An insider told the news outlet that there is “no world” in which the once-close companions will reconnect as Rogen refuses to be associated with a person accused of such “horrible things.”

“There is no world where Seth will be friends with James Franco ever again,” the source shared. “The friendship and work they did together was amazing, but Seth had to separate himself from James to move forward in his own life and career.”

They added, “Seth doesn’t want to be connected with anyone that has been accused of horrible things. He had to drop James cold turkey, which hurt.”

It comes after Franco announced the end of his friendship with his “Pineapple Express” costar in an interview with Variety last week.

The 46-year-old actor claimed that he had tried, and failed, to reconcile with Rogen after the latter seemingly cut ties with him.

“I haven’t talked to Seth. I love Seth. We had 20 great years together, but I guess it’s over,” Franco told the news outlet. “And not for lack of trying.”

He added, “I’ve told him how much he’s meant to me.”

According to the Daily Mail, five women alleged that Franco had been sexually inappropriate or exploitative with them in January 2018. One said that he removed plastic guards from an actress’ vulvas during a sex scene while simulating oral sex.

Two of the women, Sarah Tither-Kaplan and Toni Gaal, then sued him in 2019 and claimed that he tried to “create a pipeline of young women who were subjected to his personal and professional sexual exploitation in the name of education” while they attended his acting school.

When the allegations were first made, Franco initially denied it through his attorneys but eventually settled a lawsuit for $2.2 million in July 2021.

According to the Daily Mail, Rogen initially tried to stick it out with Franco and said he would continue collaborating with him, but was forced to reconsider his stand in May 2021, telling the Sunday Times that their friendship and working partnership were over.

“What I can say is that I despise abuse and harassment, and I would never cover or conceal the actions of someone doing it or knowingly put someone in a situation where they were around someone like that,” Rogen said.

“I also look back to that interview in 2018 where I commented that I would keep working with James, and the truth is that I have not, and I do not plan to right now. I don’t know if I can define that [our friendship] right now during this interview,” he added.

Ever since the scandal, Franco has largely kept out of the spotlight but recently made a rare appearance with his 28-year-old girlfriend, Izabel Pakzad, at the 16th Lumiere Film Festival in France, per the Daily Mail.

The couple, who have been together since 2017 when Pakzad was 21, appeared to be enjoying themselves on the red carpet as Franco made her smile broadly after whispering something to her.

The “127 Hours” actor wore a gray sweater with a black design on it with olive green pants.

Pakzad, on the other hand, kept it chic in a short-sleeved, black blazer with black jeans featuring cut-outs at her thighs.

During an appearance on the “Jess Cagle podcast” in 2021, Franco previously admitted to cheating on all the ladies he’d been with before Pakzad.

“I had girlfriends. I could never be faithful to anybody. I cheated on everybody before Izabel,” he said.

One thing that seemingly made him go all in for Pakzad was the fact that she wasn’t an actress when they first met, as he was specifically looking to date someone who wasn’t an actress.

“She wasn’t an actress when I met her,” Franco explained on the podcast. “I wrote a list of everything that I was for [in a partner], and it wasn’t imperative, but I was like, ‘It’d be nice if she wasn’t an actress.'”

He explained that he didn’t get to know that Pakzad was taking acting classes until they’d already gone on a few dates.

“It turned out great because we share all these interests, and she’s directing now,” he said. “I’m just so lucky.”