Louis C.K.: ‘Felt free’ after sexual misconduct allegations, reflects on fallout and comeback
In a recent interview, the comedian says the 2017 exposure forced a reckoning and helped others through recovery groups as he charts a return to stand-up.
Louis C.K. says he felt free in 2017 after five women publicly accused him of sexual misconduct, and he publicly acknowledged the allegations were true. In a conversation on Theo Von’s This Past Weekend podcast, the comedian, who is now 58, described the moment as a release that followed years of trying to manage inner problems.
On the podcast, he said that living in denial around troubling impulses was harming others and that the truth was the first step toward change. “I tried to feel like I was a normal person. Or that I was what I thought of as a good person, but I was doing stuff in the background of my life that I was ashamed of,” he said. “Those things on the edge, like using another person but you got their permission first, you’re still using another person.” He added: “All of that is, like, you can’t manage it. And so when you’re in front of the world and that’s going on inside of you, it’s real hell.”
In Nov. 2017, The New York Times published a bombshell exposé in which five women claimed that the stand-up comedian exposed himself and masturbated in front of them without their consent. “These stories are true,” C.K. said after the allegations emerged. “At the time, I said to myself that what I did was not okay because I never exposed myself to a woman without asking first, which is also true.” “The power I had over these women is that they admired me,” he added. “And I wielded that power irresponsibly.” FX, Netflix, Showtime and HBO quickly cut ties with C.K. In 2019, he joked that he lost an estimated $35 million in income due to the scandal.
On Von’s podcast, C.K. said that in hindsight he views the scandal as “a beautiful thing.” “I look at that as, like, God’s hands, or whatever you want to call it,” he said. “That was just like a good, caring thing that said, ‘Dude, you need to stop. You need to stop. You need out of all this.'” He also explained how sharing his story in Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous meetings helped other people. “When I go to a meeting in person and there’s a guy who’s really hurting, his life’s f–ked up and I approach him and he’s not sure about being in this program,” C.K. said. “He goes, ‘Oh, I ruined my life.’ And I go, ‘Do you know who I am?’ And he goes, ‘Yeah.’ And I go, ‘I’m doing pretty good, buddy.'” He added: “The wreckage can be a mountain for folks to lean on, take a little load off — that’s a beautiful gift.” The Emmy Award winner reiterated that he’s sorry for what he did. “I really wish I could have a simple kind of watershed where I can say just ‘Yes’ to everything that happened, and I’m sorry,” he told Von. “I really am. And I’m just trying to do better, and I don’t think I can prove that to everybody, ’cause it’s a private thing. It’s a one-to-one man thing. It’s not a famous guy act.”
Despite C.K.’s fall from grace, he returned to the spotlight to win a Grammy in 2022 for his “Sincerely Louis C.K.” album. He later returned to the stand-up circuit, and announced an international 2025-2026 tour, called the “Ridiculous Tour,” earlier this year.
As he moves forward, C.K. has emphasized personal accountability and the difficult road back from public censure, while also noting the role his own reckoning has played in helping others confront similar patterns. The conversation on a popular podcast adds to a broader industry conversation about accountability, redemption, and the balance between a performer’s body of work and the harm caused by misconduct. While the public and industries vary in their responses to such comebacks, the latest interview shows C.K. continuing to articulate how his past actions shaped his current perspective and what he says is a ongoing effort to do better.
The comedian’s 2022 Grammy win and 2025-2026 tour schedule signal a return to the stage for a performer who once dominated late-night and festival circuits. Yet the path remains complicated for C.K., whose career arc since 2017 has become a case study in how audiences, venues and streaming platforms weigh a creator’s art against serious allegations of abuse of power. As he tests a fresh phase of his career, observers will watch how his new material addresses the complexities of accountability, apology and rebuilding trust with audiences who remember the controversy decades later.