Salim Akil’s Sexual Assault Accuser Claims Mara Brock Akil Was Aware Of Their Relationship, Approves Of OWN Canceling “Love Is__”

Amber Dixon Brenner, Salim Akil

Salim Akil’s Sexual Assault Accuser Approves of “Love Is__” Cancellation: “This is the right thing”

Fans were not only shocked at the sudden cancellation of Salim Akil and Mara Brock Akil‘s OWN series, “Love Is__,” but mortified at the disturbing details of Salim’s sexual assault lawsuit. This past November, actress Amber Dixon Brenner accused the notable show producer/writer of horrific sexual battery during their alleged decade-long extramarital affair. She also accused him of stealing the concept of a screenplay she pitched to him, and created “Love Is__” without her involvement. Salim said this of the accusations via his attorney:

“These allegations are deeply upsetting – but they are also totally untrue…Salim looks forward to clearing his name and to being able to focus on his work and his family.”

In a recent interview, Amber Dixon Brenner explained why she decided to sue Salim Akil:

“I got to a point where I could no longer live with myself and be the mother I wanted to be, be the Amber I always dreamed of being if I tolerated the history of the abuse…I could not walk with my head up.”

Amber says that Mara Brock Akil was well aware of not only her relationship with her husband, but his alleged abuse. Here’s why she went public with her lawsuit:

“It started when Mara was on the cover of some magazine and she stood along with other women in the industry talking about #MeToo or Time’s Up. I read it and I was appalled and I felt disregarded and that the issues from the relationship that in the past I had tried to resolve or discuss regarding violence she was very silent about. Like not responding to texts earlier on in the relationship.”

Mara Brock Akil, Salim Akil

Amber detailed attempting to contact the Akils:

“Salim blocked my phone number. But I first reached out to Mara when she was on the cover of that magazine. I wrote her an email saying ‘How is it that you come forward now when in your private life you knew that your husband had a habit of hitting me?’ The letter I wrote was very thorough.”

She also feels Salim feels that he’s above being held accountable, and discarded her after their relationship. She said:

“If you love someone you keep trying to give them chance after chance and then you realize you don’t love me. You’re not sorry. You’re not coming to me in a private manner or to my lawyer wanting to apologize. I wanted an apology and I wanted it acknowledged that he was abusive. When I realized, oh, you don’t really don’t care. You know what, this is my turn to hold you accountable because Salim thought he was above accountability, as did Mara. So that is when I pulled the trigger on the state because it was also not just for the abuse. It was for theft of idea, which plays into copyright, absolutely.”

Oprah Winfrey with ‘Love Is ___’ actor Will Catlett, show creator/executive producer Salim Akil, show creator/executive producer/showrunner Mara Brock Akil, and actress Michele Weaver

She explains how she felt when “Love Is__” premiered:

“When news of Love Is_ came out, I was very much in denial. The titles were similar and I’m very much in denial and not wanting to be the hater ex-lover. So I was actually congratulating them and I was wanting to believe that it was a sitcom or that it was far removed from anything I wrote, shared, and asked him to work on with me, which he declined the opportunity saying he was to obviously busy…I was in denial up until a few days before.”

She also says she approves of the show’s cancellation. 

“I did feel a sense of this is the right thing, this is correct response from the OWN network. This is a correct response to Salim and Mara and it felt like a bit of an acknowledgment of what I had gone through. Look, it’s a sad situation. It’s a terrible situation that I was ever in the predicament of having to call him out and her out. It’s tragic to me that these things ever happened. It’s tragic to me that my work was stolen and then misappropriated to their supposed love story. Honestly, the first time I saw the show, and we can go back on the record, my first reaction was I want my work off the television now. I want this off.”

Written by Miata Shanay