A dog named Scruffy sits at the center of a Lifetime actress’ claim that a bite above her eyebrow cost her work.
Natasha Wilson, an actress who appeared in several episodes of Lifetime’s “UnREAL” and in TV movies including “The Best Version of Love” and “Single and Ready to Jingle,” is suing dog owner Gregory Marcel over an attack she says happened around 9:40 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2024, at the West Hollywood Dog Park. Details of the lawsuit became public Nov. 4, 2026. It claims the bite left her permanently disfigured and cost her acting work.
“Scruffy continued to attack, while Wilson was on the ground attempting to shield her dog with her body and hands,” the suit says.
When She Picked Up Her Bulldog
Wilson was walking her French bulldog through the Los Angeles-area park that night when she came across Marcel and his dog, according to the filing. Scruffy approached the bulldog and “stood over it in an aggressive and dominant posture,” the complaint states.
Wilson picked up her bulldog. Scruffy then jumped on her, and she lost her grip on the pet, the suit says.
The bite landed on her face, above the right eyebrow, opening a cut that bled, according to the lawsuit.
The Scar She Says Cost Her Work
Marcel went with Wilson to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the suit says. Staff there stitched the wound and prescribed antibiotics.
The stitches closed the cut, but the suit says the damage did not end there. It describes a scar that remains permanent, visible and painful. It also says her eyebrow and the hair pattern around it were altered, and that the movement of her right brow is impaired. She has been advised that she needs scar revision surgery and further medical treatment.
Because of the injury, the filing says, Wilson was kept from her usual occupation and lost both earnings and earning capacity. She is seeking economic damages covering medical expenses, wage loss and loss of earning capacity. The allegations have not been proven in court.
Liable Even Without a Prior Bite
California Civil Code Section 3342 generally holds a dog’s owner liable when the animal bites someone in a public place. The statute applies whether or not the dog had ever shown aggressive behavior before the bite, which leaves owners exposed even when the attack is the animal’s first.
What that exposure can be worth was measured in another Los Angeles case this year. A jury in June 2026 awarded $12.9 million to Maria Avila, a former housekeeper for R&B singer Chris Brown, whose Caucasian shepherd, Hades, mauled her at his Tarzana home in December 2020.
Avila’s injuries included extensive wounds and scarring to her face and arms, and she claimed lasting nerve damage. A judge later reduced the jury’s figure to $9.5 million. Avila accepted the smaller award in October 2026 rather than sit through another damages trial.
Her Last Credit Was “Trust in Love”
Wilson has not been active on social media in the two years since the alleged attack. She shared a post at the end of November 2024, but it appeared to include an old photo. She also turned up in three collaborative posts in 2025, all of which seemed to have been filmed earlier.
Her last acting credit listed on IMDb is 2024’s “Trust in Love.”