Former Disney Child Star Raquel Lee Bolleau Files Lawsuit Alleging Sexual Assault During 2001 Production

Former Disney Channel star Raquel Lee Bolleau.

Former child actress Raquel Lee Bolleau, known professionally earlier in her career as Raquel Lee, has filed a civil lawsuit against The Walt Disney Company, alleging that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by a then-Disney employee while working on a Disney Channel production when she was 14 years old.

Bolleau, now 39, filed the civil negligence lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court on Friday, Aug. 21. The complaint centers on her experience filming the 2001 Disney Channel Original Movie The Poof Point and accuses Disney of failing to adequately protect and supervise her as a minor.

According to the complaint obtained by PEOPLE, Bolleau alleges that an unnamed, middle-aged male employee working for Disney repeatedly sexually assaulted her while the cast and crew were temporarily based in Salt Lake City for the production.

The lawsuit also alleges that the employee supplied the teenage actress with alcohol before assaulting her.

Bolleau claims the alleged abuse occurred more than once during the production and continued during a flight back to California.

The identity of the employee is not disclosed in the complaint as described by PEOPLE, and the allegations have not been proven in court.

Beyond accusing the former employee of misconduct, Bolleau’s lawsuit focuses heavily on Disney’s alleged responsibility for the circumstances surrounding what happened.

She claims that production personnel actively encouraged her to spend time with the employee and told her to “bond” with him.

According to the complaint, Bolleau was also separated from her guardian during parts of the production and was not provided with the level of adult supervision that she argues should have been required for a 14-year-old performer working away from home.

The actress alleges that these failures created circumstances in which the employee was able to gain inappropriate access to her without meaningful intervention from other adults on the production.

Bolleau further claims that the alleged misconduct did not remain entirely hidden.

According to the lawsuit, the employee allegedly harassed and intimidated her while they were on set, including whispering comments about their previous encounters while other adults were nearby.

In one example cited in the complaint, Bolleau alleges that the employee would whisper statements such as, “last night was so good.”

She claims these comments were made openly enough that other people working on the production could have noticed that something inappropriate was occurring.

Despite that, Bolleau alleges that “no one at Disney intervened.”

The complaint also states that adults involved in the production allegedly noticed significant changes in Bolleau’s physical condition, behavior and ability to work after the alleged abuse began.

Before filming, she describes herself as a serious and disciplined young performer who approached her work professionally.

Once the alleged assaults started, however, Bolleau claims she began appearing visibly ill and, at times, intoxicated.

The lawsuit describes this change as a dramatic contrast to the “dedicated, studious and diligent child actress” who had initially joined the movie.

Bolleau argues that these warning signs should have prompted adults overseeing the production to investigate whether she was in danger.

Instead, according to her complaint, Disney personnel allegedly treated the situation primarily as a performance problem.

She claims company executives characterized her as being “out of control” as her performance deteriorated.

The lawsuit further alleges that rather than investigating the cause of her sudden behavioral changes, Disney blamed Bolleau herself and ultimately canceled another role that had been planned for her.

Those allegations are central to the negligence claims in the case.

Bolleau’s attorneys argue that a major entertainment company employing minors has a duty to establish appropriate safeguards, ensure adequate supervision and respond when there are signs that a child performer may be experiencing abuse or exploitation.

The lawsuit seeks compensation for a range of alleged harms.

Bolleau is requesting damages connected to economic losses and emotional distress, as well as punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and other litigation-related costs.

The complaint does not specify an exact monetary amount being sought.

Her attorneys, Douglas Wigdor and Jane Kim, issued a statement to PEOPLE after the lawsuit was filed.

They placed Bolleau’s allegations within the broader discussion surrounding the treatment of children working in the entertainment industry.

“Over the last decade, countless child actors have come forward to bravely share their experiences of abuse by adults in entertainment,” the attorneys said.

Wigdor and Kim, who identified themselves as former government prosecutors, added that their message to entertainment companies was straightforward: alleged misconduct involving child performers must be treated seriously, and people or organizations that contributed to such harm should be held accountable where legally appropriate.

“This conduct is inexcusable,” they said, adding that those involved “directly or indirectly” must face accountability.

At the time PEOPLE published its report, Disney had not immediately responded to a request for comment regarding Bolleau’s allegations.

Because the matter is a newly filed civil case, the claims contained in Bolleau’s complaint remain allegations and have not yet been adjudicated.

Bolleau was already familiar to young television audiences around the time she appeared in The Poof Point.

She had appeared on Nickelodeon’s The Amanda Show and later continued working with Disney.

Following The Poof Point, she became part of the voice cast of Disney Channel’s animated series The Proud Family.

The original series aired from 2001 until 2005, with Bolleau performing a recurring voice role.

Years later, she returned to the franchise for Disney+’s revival series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder, which ran from 2022 through 2025.

Her continued professional connection to Disney makes the allegations in the newly filed lawsuit particularly notable.

According to her legal complaint, events that allegedly occurred when she was a teenager remained connected to significant emotional and professional consequences long afterward.

The case also arrives amid years of increasing public scrutiny over the experiences of child actors in Hollywood.

Numerous former young performers have spoken publicly about issues including exploitation, inadequate supervision, inappropriate adult behavior and the intense pressure children can experience while working on professional film and television productions.

Bolleau’s attorneys explicitly referenced that broader history in their statement, arguing that entertainment companies must take responsibility not only for the actions of individual employees but also for the systems designed to protect minors.

For Bolleau, however, the lawsuit is focused on a specific period in her own childhood.

Raquel Lee Bolleau at a red carpet event for ‘The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder’ in L.A. on Jan. 19, 2023.

She alleges that while working on what should have been a professional film production, she was placed in circumstances that exposed her to repeated abuse by an adult employee.

She further contends that warning signs were visible to people around her but were either overlooked or mishandled.

Perhaps one of the most consequential aspects of the complaint is her allegation that the production interpreted her deteriorating condition as misconduct rather than a possible indication that she needed protection.

According to Bolleau, the consequences extended beyond what allegedly happened privately. She claims that the changes caused by the alleged abuse affected her professional reputation and resulted in the loss of another acting opportunity.

Her lawsuit will now seek to establish whether Disney bears legal responsibility for the alleged failures in supervision and protection described in the complaint.

As the litigation proceeds, Disney will have an opportunity to respond formally to the allegations, and the court will determine whether Bolleau’s claims are supported by the evidence presented.

For now, the filing represents Bolleau’s first major legal effort to publicly address what she says happened to her while working as a child actress more than two decades ago — and raises renewed questions about how entertainment companies protect minors working on film and television sets.