The legacy of Price Is Right icon Bob Barker is getting dragged back into the gutter — and the allegations are as ugly as they come.
A new E! Dirty Rotten Scandals docuseries is reviving the decades-old claims that Barker’s wholesome TV image hid something far darker backstage. And at the center of the storm is former Barker’s Beauty Dian Parkinson, who has long alleged the game show legend turned her job into a nightmare she couldn’t escape.
A friend of Parkinson’s, now 81, claims she described her years on the show in chilling terms: she allegedly said she “sacrificed” her body to keep her spot — and even called herself Barker’s “sex slave.”
According to that friend, Parkinson claimed Barker made it blunt: give him what he wanted, or lose her job.
The allegations get even more disturbing. The friend claimed Barker would allegedly summon her into his dressing room between tapings for sex — and that she felt she couldn’t say no without risking her career. The insider claimed Barker mostly demanded oral sex, and that Parkinson went along because she believed her job depended on it.
The friend also alleged Barker had a creepy routine: calling himself “Daddy” and allegedly referring to his dressing room as “Daddy’s Room.” Parkinson, the insider said, claimed the situation dragged on for more than three years — and that she felt forced into sex acts against her will.
Afterward, she allegedly said, he’d dismiss her and go to sleep, leaving her feeling like something disposable.
The friend claimed Parkinson described it as “living hell,” saying she felt used, tossed aside, and trapped inside a power imbalance she couldn’t fight.
The allegations don’t stop at emotional trauma. The friend claimed Parkinson believed the stress and abuse contributed to a bleeding ulcer — and that she quit in June 1993 because she feared the show was literally destroying her health.
Publicly, she allegedly told people she was leaving for career reasons. Privately, the friend claimed she said she had to get away from “monster” Bob Barker — because staying felt like risking death.
Parkinson later filed an $8 million sexual harassment lawsuit against Barker and the show’s producers in 1994, according to the report. But by April 1995, she dropped the case, reportedly because the legal costs were crushing.
Barker, who died in 2023 at 99, denied forcing Parkinson to do anything. He claimed she pursued him, accused her of being motivated by money, and alleged she demanded a massive payout before taking him to court.
He also admitted they had an affair after his wife died — but insisted it was consensual, painting Parkinson as the aggressor and claiming coworkers could back him up.
For years, millions watched Barker as the smiling, gentle face of daytime TV — the man reminding viewers to spay and neuter their pets before signing off.
But these claims paint a totally different picture: a powerful host, a young model, and a workplace where — according to the allegations — the price of keeping your job wasn’t a showcase showdown… it was your body.
