A Lifetime actress says she tried to shield her French bulldog at a dog park, and the attack left her face disfigured and ended her career

Actress Natasha Wilson has filed a lawsuit against dog owner Gregory Marcel, claiming a dog attack two years ago left her with permanent facial injuries and halted her acting career. She is seeking compensation over the incident at a Los Angeles dog park, which she says caused facial “disfigurement” and has kept her out of work since.

As reported by UNILAD, legal documents filed this week lay out Wilson’s account of what happened on November 7, 2024. Wilson, known for her work on the Lifetime network, was walking her French bulldog at the West Hollywood Dog Park at about 9:40 PM when she claims she encountered Marcel and his dog, Scruffy.

The lawsuit alleges that Marcel did not have Scruffy on a leash and failed to protect Wilson. The filing states that Marcel “could not promptly reach, control, or restrain the dog” when the animal approached Wilson and her pet, and that Scruffy stood over her French bulldog “in an aggressive and dominant posture.”

The bite reportedly left a lasting mark above her brow

Wilson reportedly tried to pick up her own dog to intervene, but the lawsuit claims Scruffy jumped on her and knocked her to the ground. According to the filing, the attack continued while Wilson was “on the ground attempting to shield her dog with her body and hands.” The lawsuit alleges that “during the attack, Scruffy bit [Wilson] on the face, above her right eyebrow.”

Wilson and Marcel both went to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai, where medical workers cleaned the wound and gave her loose stitches. She received antibiotics before being discharged to recover at home, with doctors reportedly focusing on “the risk of infection associated with dog bites” while treating her “facial laceration.” Dog attacks have also drawn attention in England after a family dog’s fatal attack on a teenager.

The lawsuit states that Wilson “suffered a laceration above her right eyebrow requiring sutures and has been left with a permanent, visible, and painful scar, an altered eyebrow, hair pattern, and impaired movement of the right brow.” Medical professionals have since “advised that she requires scar revision surgery and additional treatment.”

Wilson claims the injuries have kept her from working in the two years since the incident, and her last acting credit was the 2024 movie Trust in Love. The complaint states that she “was prevented from attending to her usual occupation, and thereby sustained a loss of earnings and an impairment of her earning capacity.”

She is suing Marcel for damages including medical expenses related to her facial injuries, wage loss, and loss of future earning capacity. The filing also claims the ordeal caused “shock and injury to her nervous system, all of which have caused great physical, mental, and nervous pain and suffering, disfigurement, and emotional distress.”