In his essay, the former
Heroes actor opened up about his treatment on the NBC series, in which he played D.L. Hawkins, and
Ali was his wife, Niki Sanders.
Leonard wrote that he had tried to get along with
Ali from the start of the series, however, she did not reciprocate.
“I pondered why my co-star had exuberantly played a different scene with the Petrelli character involving overt sexuality while wearing lingerie, but found aspects of one involving love and intimacy expressed through dialogue with my character, her husband, disrespectful to her core,” he wrote. “I couldn’t help wondering whether race was a factor.”