Cybill Shepherd Says Les Moonves Canceled 'Cybill' in Retaliation for Her Rebuffing His Sexual Advances

Add triple Golden Globe winner Cybill Shepherd to the list of women whose careers former CBS chairman and CEO Les Moonves allegedly derailed when they rebuffed his sexual advances.

Shepherd says Moonves did not renew her 1990s hit TV comedy, Cybill, because she rejected him. "My show could have run another five years, but I didn't…fall on the right side of Les Moonves," said Shepherd on SiriusXM radio Thursday, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.

Moonves, accused by many women of decades of sexual misconduct, was ousted from CBS in September. He's one of many powerful male network TV and Hollywood moguls who have lost their jobs and status in the wake of the #MeToo women's empowerment movement.

In 2008, Shepherd told Entertainment Weekly that the show's sudden cancellation "felt like having one of my limbs cut off. It was a hugely emotional thing for me and really bad for my career to have that show just disappear like it never existed," Shepherd told the magazine.

Cybill, which ran from 1995 to 1998 and co-starred Christine Baranski, won three Emmys and earned 12 Emmy nominations during its run.

Shepherd, 68, who made her Hollywood movie debut as teenager Jacy Farrow in the acclaimed The Last Picture Show in 1971, said on the Michelle Collins Show on SiriusXM that a few seasons into the show, Moonves arranged a dinner date with her.

"His assistant and my assistant made a dinner date and we went to it and he was, well, he was telling me his wife didn't turn him on, some mistress didn't turn him on," Shepherd told Collins.

"And I'm watching him drink alcohol and…he says, 'well, you know, why don't you let me take you home?' I said, 'No, I've got a ride' and I had my car outside with a good friend of mine who is an off-duty LAPD officer."

After she rejected Moonves, conflicts on the show heated up. She said she was ordered not to perform gags that involved her attractive character—a divorced, outspoken Hollywood actress past her prime and raising a teenage daughter—talking while eating. She also fought with the network about doing more than one episode on menopause.

What seems mainstream now on television was network-censored fare in the 1990s.

"We had done one menopause episode, then we were going to do a second one," said Shepherd. "They said you can't use 'menses,' 'menstruation' or 'period' and I fought to say period and that ended up in Newsweek or Time just that year. I had to fight to say period."

Eventually, network editors barred Shepherd from the editing room. She refused to name them, but she had severe words for Moonves's actions.

"We can all act stupid no matter how intelligent we are," she said, adding that Moonves's "crimes" were very painful to her.

Show creator Chuck Lorre departed Cybill after the first season—reportedly after butting heads with Shepherd, according to the Los Angeles Times. Later, CBS canceled the show.

Moonves's spokesman, Chris Giglio, declined to comment on Thursday. A Moonves representative could not immediately be reached Thursday, reported The Washington Post. A CBS representative declined to comment on Shepherd's allegations.

Moonves stepped down in September after six women came forward with allegations against him in July, according to a New Yorker story written by Ronan Farrow. Another six women accused him of harassment, retaliation, forced oral sex and intimidation, leading to his resignation.

Moonves denied any wrongdoing. "Untrue allegations from decades ago are now being made against me that are not consistent with who I am," Moonves said, following his resignation. "I am deeply saddened to be leaving the company."

More recently, The New York Times reported that authorities investigating the women's accusations discovered more allegations that a CBS employee was "on call" to perform oral sex on Moonves and that Moonves received oral sex from other network employees "under circumstances that sound transactional and improper to the extent that there was no hint of any relationship, romance or reciprocity."

Shepherd currently appears in the new Orson Welles documentary, They'll Love Me When I'm Dead.