‘Days of Our Lives’ Star Arianne Zucker Breaks Silence on Shocking Trump Tape

Arianne Zucker and Donald Trump
Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Days of Our Lives star Arianne Zucker has opened up about Donald Trump‘s 2005 interview with Access Hollywood, where a hot mic picked up the former president talking with host Billy Bush and making his infamous “grab ’em by the p***y” comment.

Zucker appeared alongside Trump and Bush in the Access Hollywood tape, which was leaked by The Washington Post in October 2016, one month before the presidential election. In the video, Trump and Bush are heard having a lewd conversation about women, including Zucker.

Appearing on the latest episode of Rachel Uchitel’s Miss Understood podcast, Zucker said of Trump, “He made a comment, I guess, about my legs, and so did Billy Bush. Everybody has spoken poorly about somebody in their lifetime. I don’t care who you are; everybody has. It’s just people get caught on camera doing it.”

She continued, “Unfortunately, that happens all the time. And if you’ve ever gone to a fraternity party, the things happen. So [after reading a transcript of the comments] I’m going, ‘Sounds like something my fraternity guys I know would say.’ But I just didn’t see it in the way that people were seeing it.”

In the tape, after seeing Zucker, Trump makes a comment to Bush, saying, “I’ve got to use some Tic Tacs, just in case I start kissing her. You know I’m automatically attracted to beautiful… I just start kissing them. It’s like a magnet. Just kiss. I don’t even wait.”

He goes on to say, “And when you’re a star, they let you do it. You can do anything. Grab them by the p***y.”

Zucker told Uchitel that the media storm that followed only caused her further stress. “I felt attacked by the media because I knew all they wanted,” she shared. “I mean, the biggest thing was to get Trump off the ballot. I was like, that is not my job.”

While Zucker didn’t seem to think Trump and Bush’s comments were a big deal, she is currently caught up in a drama with her former Days of Our Lives bosses.

The actress, who played Nicole Walker on the long-running soap opera, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against former Days executive producer Albert Alarr, Ken Corday, and Corday Productions back in February. In the suit, Zucker claims she and other female employees were subjected to sexual harassment and bullying at the hands of Alarr.

Zucker also claimed that her contract with Days wasn’t renewed due to her speaking out against Alarr.

“After my loyalty to Ken Corday and Corday Production for 25 years… and loving this show with all my heart, working to my highest ability, doing the right thing, and standing up for myself and others is clearly what got me pushed out of my longtime career at Days of our Lives,” she stated back in February.

At the time, Corday Productions released a statement, writing, “The allegations in Ms. Zucker’s lawsuit are without merit. Corday Productions offered to renew Ms. Zucker’s contract including offering her a pay increase. Rejecting Ms. Zucker’s counteroffer does not constitute retaliation. Complaints about Mr. Alarr’s on-set behavior were promptly investigated. Corday Productions fully cooperated with the impartial investigation and subsequently terminated Mr. Alarr.”