It’s official, AMC Networks have reinstated Chris Hardwick as Talking Dead host. After a full investigation into the allegations from Hardwick’s ex-girlfriend, Chloe Dykstra, who claimed he sexually assaulted her over the course of their 3 year long relationship.
Back in June, Dykstra wrote an essay for the online forum, Medium, which recounted sexual and emotional abuse from a partner readers believed to be Hardwick. However, since then Hardwick has vehemently denied these rumors and even his wife Lydia Hearst releasing a statement. Hearst states “He’s doing very well right now and I can only speak from my own experience, where the man I married was not the man who was written about in that article,”
Hearst also told Variety at San Diego Comic-Con. “I’ve known him to be nothing less than absolutely loving, compassionate, supportive, not just to myself, but to everyone he knows and works with. He’s just a genuinely good man with a good heart. I can honestly say without a doubt that he will be getting back to what he loves very soon.”
“Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of Talking Dead and Talking With Chris Hardwick,” AMC said in a statement. “We take these matters very seriously, and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”
After a tumultuous couple of months, Chris Hardwick will return to hosting Talking Dead on August 12th, as well as his other show on AMC Networks, Talking With Chris Hardwick.