Former The Price Is Right model Holly Hallstrom has alleged that longtime host Bob Barker forced her into early retirement amid the fallout from a high-profile sexual harassment scandal involving the show.
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In a recent interview with PEOPLE, Hallstrom said she faced mounting pressure after fellow model Dian Parkinson filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Bob Barker in the 1990s. Hallstrom claimed that lawyers and producers repeatedly pushed staff to provide testimony that supported Barker’s defense.
“Every time you went to the studio, you had to sit with lawyers who all they wanted to hear was all the bad stuff about Dian and how Bob could not have possibly sexually harassed Dian,” she said. She wanted “nothing to do with it.”
“I was the only one that was asked to give a deposition and did not. I didn’t want to commit felony perjury, which is exactly what it would have been if I gave a testimony,” she continued.
According to Hallstrom, her refusal led to retaliation. She alleged that Barker and others began sidelining her on the show before his attempt to fire her. Barker blamed the firing on weight gain.
This excuse was no surprise Hallstrom.
Barker Forced Hallstrom Into An Early Retirement
After Parkinson dropped her suit against Barker, he turned his attention to Hallstrom. He told her she’d be taking an “early retirement,” but she didn’t want to.
It was at that moment she could truly say, “I hate that man.”
“When I didn’t agree, that’s when the whole thing blew up. And then lawyers called me and started negotiating the terms of retirement and I said, ‘But I don’t want to retire. There’s no need for me to retire.’ But there really was no choice. Barker wanted me gone. I was being fired and I wouldn’t be coming back, after nearly 20 years on the show. I was devastated,” she explained.
Hallstrom didn’t go quietly, and that resulted in a 10-year defamation lawsuit that Barker ultimately dropped in 2000, leaving Hallstrom financially drained. She managed to get a settlement when suing Barker for malicious prosecution, however.