Zoey 101 Star Matthew Underwood says he quit acting at 19 when his agent allegedly assaulted him

Matthew Underwood is talking about why he left his acting profession.

The Zoey 101 star, 33, said on Instagram Friday that he was abused by his former agent, whom he does not identify when he was 19. The revelation came as Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, a docuseries about the corrosive behind-the-scenes culture on popular children's shows, debuted.


“When I was 19, I was sexually harassed and then assaulted by my agent at the time, who had spent a decent amount of time building trust with me as a friend and mentor. Again, my trust was betrayed and my self-image was crushed,” Underwood wrote. “I reported him to the agency and he has since been fired — although he is still active in the industry. This experience provoked my move away from LA and ended my pursuit of acting.”

Underwood then stated that he was sharing his tale because "many people have been blowing up my email" and labelling him a "paedophile defender" following the release of "Quiet on Set", which includes abuse allegations against Zoey 101 director Dan Schneider.


“I imagine many of my friends in the business are being equally harassed if they aren’t joining in the chorus, so I’m sharing this with hope that some of you can recognize that just because a person doesn’t shout from the rooftops that paedophiles are bad or that people can suck — that does not mean they don’t have their own reasons for staying silent, good reasons, personal reasons," he said. “I have extreme empathy for anyone who has been taken advantage of by people they trusted. I hope they are all able to grow to love themselves and have great support from their family and friends in their journey of recovery.”

Continuing his statement, Underwood spoke about his own experience as a child star, saying, "I never had a bad experience working on a Nickelodeon show, and I never had a poor experience with Dan. I have nothing to contribute to the discussion that anyone would want to hear."

Underwood played Logan Reese on Zoey 101 from 2005 until 2008. He repeated his role in the 2023 film Zoey 102.



Underwood addressed Schneider, 58, directly, saying, "I like to believe individuals have the capacity to be better humans, and Dan appears to acknowledge that he has been an a------ in the past. I believe he is absolutely capable of being a creator and coworker that everyone will appreciate working with."


Underwood, who also stated in his post that he was allegedly "groomed and molested" at the age of 12 by a friend's father, added, "I have no expectation to work with him again, this is just me wanting good for anyone who wants to be better."

In the caption of his tweet, Underwood stated that his current agents are not the focus of his allegations.

"To ensure there is no confusion, I want to make it clear that my current agents Lauren Green and Sam Hampton of Modern Artists Entertainment are incredible humans who are sincere, genuine, and smart professionals in this industry," he said in a statement.

"They have always listened to my concerns and looked out for my well-being." "I'd like to thank Lauren Green for literally having my back since I was eight years old," Underwood added. "The only period of my life that I wasn't represented by her, was the year and a half I had this s----- experience with this other agent."

"If it wasn't for Lauren and Sam, I would never have been on a screen again," he ended, tagging his agents' Instagram handles.