The dog park trip that a Lifetime actress blames for the scar above her right eyebrow has landed in court.
Natasha Wilson, an actress known for Lifetime’s “UnREAL,” is suing dog owner Gregory Marcel over a bite to her face that she says left her permanently disfigured and cost her acting work, and details of the filing became public Nov. 4, 2026.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
Shielding Her Bulldog on the Ground
Wilson was walking her French bulldog through the West Hollywood Dog Park, a Los Angeles-area park, at around 9:40 p.m. on Nov. 7, 2024, when she ran into Marcel and his dog, Scruffy, according to the filing.
Scruffy approached the bulldog and “stood over it in an aggressive and dominant posture,” the complaint states, a posture that prompted Wilson to pick up her pet. Scruffy then jumped on her, the suit says, and she lost her grip on the bulldog.
“Scruffy continued to attack, while Wilson was on the ground attempting to shield her dog with her body and hands,” the suit says. The bite landed on her face, above the right eyebrow, and opened a cut that bled.
Marcel went with her to the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, according to the suit. Staff there stitched the wound and prescribed antibiotics.
The Scar Cost Her Work
The scar is permanent, visible and painful, the suit says, and it has altered her eyebrow and the surrounding hair pattern. Movement of her right brow is impaired.
She has been advised that she needs scar revision surgery and further medical treatment, according to the filing, which says the injury has kept her from her usual occupation and cost her earnings and earning capacity. She is seeking economic damages covering medical expenses, wage loss and loss of earning capacity.
Wilson was born in New York City and completed her degrees at USC, and her breakthrough came as “Maya” in “UnREAL,” in which she appeared in several episodes. Her other credits include the TV movies “The Best Version of Love” and “Single and Ready to Jingle.” The last acting credit listed on her IMDb page is 2024’s “Trust in Love.”
She has not been active on social media in the two years since the alleged attack. A post at the end of November 2024 appeared to include an old photo, and three collaborative posts in 2025 all seemed to have been filmed earlier. She has made no Instagram posts since June 2025.
Liability Even on a First Bite
California Civil Code Section 3342 generally makes an owner liable for a bite in a public place, whether or not the dog had shown aggressive behavior before the bite. The statute exposes owners even on an animal’s first attack.
A jury put a price on that exposure in June 2026, awarding $12.9 million to Maria Avila, a former housekeeper for R&B singer Chris Brown, over a mauling by a Caucasian shepherd named Hades at Brown’s 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 figure to $9.5 million, and Avila accepted the smaller award in October 2026 rather than sit through another damages trial.
A Malinois and a Pit Bull
In a separate case in Los Angeles, a Belgian Malinois named Maximus mauled Genice Horta, 51, at a city animal shelter on Sept. 23, 2020. Horta had been hired to drive the dog from the East Valley Animal Shelter to Arizona, and she said that neither the shelter nor rescue groups disclosed that Maximus had bitten a teenager and a shelter employee, both of whom were hospitalized. A brief by her attorneys said she underwent six surgeries on the bones and nerves of her right arm and has permanent damage. She filed suit in 2022, and after a 10-day trial a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury awarded her $5.4 million, finding the city 62.5 percent liable, the HIT Living Foundation 25 percent and Horta 12.5 percent.
In another Los Angeles case, Argelia Alvarado reached a $7.5-million settlement with the city in June 2024 after a pit bull her son adopted from a city animal shelter attacked her. She lost an arm.
