Renowned deaf actress Marlee Matlin has a new biography out, I’ll Scream Later, in which she details the abuse she suffered over twenty years ago at the age of 19 from a then 35 year-old William Hurt. They were together for over two years, and Matlin says that during that time she “was always afraid,” and “had fresh bruises everyday.” Details about the book seem to suggest that he raped her as well, although the example given only goes as far to say that he ripped off her clothes. Commenter gg mentioned that this isn’t new information and that Matlin briefly talked about the abuse to People Magazine at the time without going into great detail.

For his part, Hurt has acknowledged Matlin’s claims with a brief statement that he apologizes for his actions. It also sounds like he is trying to distance himself from the past:

The actress, now 43, recounted one particular incident on the night of her Best Actress win for Children. She claimed Hurt threw her on a bed and stripped her naked as she cried, “No, no, no. Please Bill, no.”

In a statement to E! News on Tuesday, Hurt said that both he and Matlin had moved on.

“My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives. Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we have both grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”

Matlin, whose credits also include The West Wing and Dancing With the Stars, also said she eventually became addicted to cocaine while Hurt had his own struggles, and the combination proved dangerous.

“I was so wrapped up in his world and my drugs,” she told Access. “The drugs took over my life, took over my brain.”

Matlin said that she hasn’t seen Hurt in three years.

[From E! Online]

As far as apologies go, it’s not bad and at least he said something. Why did he say “we both apologized,” though? What did she have to apologize for as his target for two years, that she didn’t always get out of the way? He could have added “there is no excuse for my actions,” “I am ashamed of that time in my life,” etc. but maybe he doesn’t want to admit how terrible he was or simply doesn’t remember. It was a long time ago. I stand by my statement yesterday that this is her story and she has every right to tell it when she’s comfortable. It still amazes me that people feel otherwise.

Marlee Matlin is shownat Bookends bookstore in Ridgewood, NJ yesterday, 4/14/09. She is shown on the header in NY on 4/13/09. William Hurt is shown on 9/11/08. Credit: PRPhotos.

Oscar-winning deaf actress Marlee Matlin dated her co-star in Children of a Lesser God, William Hurt, over 20 years ago. In her new biography, the 43 year-old mother of four details the abuse she suffered at the hands of aptly named Hurt during their relationship. Matlin told Access Hollywood that she was just 19 when she dated then 35 year-old Hurt and that she was addicted to cocaine and pot at the time. She said she “always afraid of him” and “had fresh bruises everyday” due to his unrelenting abuse:

At age 21, she became the first deaf actress to win an Oscar, for her role in “Children of a Lesser God.”

On her arm that night was her co-star, William Hurt. And in her new book, “I’ll Scream Later,” Matlin chronicles what she claims happened with Hurt that night and the alleged abuse she suffered at the hands of the actor.

“I was afraid. I was always afraid… of him,” Matlin told Access Hollywood’s Nancy O’Dell. “But I loved him. I did. Or maybe I thought I did. But look, I was 19, he was 35.”

The stars first met while filming “Children of a Lesser God” and their chemistry was electric – onscreen and off.

“We had an affair that night, the last day of the audition,” Matlin continued. “We were together for two years. We lived together and it was one of the most… He’s one of the most complex persons that I’ve ever dealt with. But, at the time, living with him was different than anything I’ve ever experienced.”

The two shared a passionate relationship. However, at times, Matlin claims it turned dangerous.

“How bad was the abuse?” Nancy asked.

“I always had fresh bruises everyday,” the actress revealed. “And if I had a split lip, or if… I mean, there were a lot of things that happened that were not pleasant.”

In her new book, Matlin recounts one of the couple’s fights, where she claims Hurt threw her on the bed and ripped off her clothes while she sobbed, “No, no, no. Please Bill, no.”

“Did you ever thing about filing charges against him?” Nancy asked.

“No, not at the time. I was so wrapped up in his world and my drugs. The drugs took over my life, took over my brain. I was 19 and I was alone in New York City. I had no friends there except my drug dealer,” Matlin explained.

At the time, Matlin admits she was addicted to cocaine and pot, while Hurt was an alcoholic, but later sought treatment through Alcoholics Anonymous.

“I could say that I understand how women are afraid to leave an abusive relationship,” she continued. “They should, but at the same time, I understand how they don’t know how.”

[From Access Hollywood, site has automatic video]

Hurt is off the wagon again. He reportedly assaulted a guy in a NY bar in September, grabbing his privates. When the bartender tried to cut him off, he became verbally and physically abusive with him and refused to leave.

It’s heartbreaking to hear that Matlin suffered such abuse as a teen from this creep. Over 20 years later, she is finally is able to tell her story and hopefully help other women who feel trapped in abusive relationships. Some commenters on the Huffington Post have expressed skepticism at Matlin’s revelation after all this time, saying that it’s timed to increase book sales. It baffles me that people would take that stance, but there are still those who defend Chris Brown so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. It’s understandable that it would take her this long to come out with what must have been a painful secret. This is her story and after all she went through she’s more than entitled to tell it when she’s comfortable.

Matlin is now married to a police officer and lives in LA with her family. They have four children, Sarah, 13, Brandon, 8, Tyler, 6, and Isabelle, 5. She was a contestant on “Dancing With The Stars” last year and stars on Showtime series “The L Word.” Hurt, 59, is divorced from his only wife and has four children by three different women. He currently stars on the FX series “Damages” with Glenn Close. Maybe his waning career will take a much-deserved hit after this news is out. It was 20 years ago, but I’m still interested to see if he issues a statement.

Marlee Matlin is shown promoting her book at Borders Columbus Circle in New York on 4/13/09. Credit: PRPhotos. She is also shown with her husband, Kevin Grandalski on 9/18/04. William Hurt is shown on 7/14/08. Credit: WENN.

Last year, several film and television critics pointed out that the best parts for actresses over the age of forty were on television. There’s Kyra Sedgwick on The Closer, Edie Falco on The Sopranos, Holly Hunter on Saving Grace, and Mariska Hargitay on Law & Order: SVU. Actresses of a certain age are in demand on the small screen, playing fully-realized characters that don’t rely on twenty-something naiveté.

Glenn Close has joined this grand tradition of great “older” actresses enjoying a career Renaissance in television. Last year, the first season of FX’s Damages premiered to overwhelmingly positive reviews. The show found a considerable niche audience of adults with attention spans who wanted to watch good acting and good stories – the numbers were good for cable, anyway.

For those of you not watching, it’s a difficult show to explain. Calling it a “legal drama” makes it sound like yet another Law & Order spin-off, which couldn’t be further from the truth. It’s sort of like Lost, only set in New York, not a mysterious island. There’s coincidences and conspiracies, the timeline goes back and forth, jumping all over the place. You don’t know who to trust, which character is supposed to be “good”, which one you’re supposed to have sympathy for. The motto of the show could be:
“There is no sympathy.” Glenn Close sat down for an interview with Newsday to talk Damages, fragility and backgammon.

“Damages” is about world-famous, stop-at-nothing litigator Patty Hewes (Glenn Close), who wrapped a big victory last year that gave new shades of meaning to the word pyrrhic. In battle with evil, Enron-styled dark lord Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson), Patty found it necessary to snuff a dog, torment witnesses (leading to their ruination or death) and finally blackmail Frobisher into chucking his whole fortune (only to double-cross him in the last episode). Did we mention: She also tried to kill her colleague Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), the daughter she never had (not counting the one, Julia, who died at birth).

In the first season, Wall Street villain Arthur Frobisher (Ted Danson) survived a gunshot from an embittered former colleague, only to realize that he is the most hated man on Earth. Hewes’ junior partner, Ellen Parsons (Rose Byrne), lives with the knowledge that her boss tried to kill her. She’s also working with the FBI to bring Hewes down. Then, there is Lady Macbeth herself. She has blood on her hands, which nothing can ever wash away. Her guilt is towering, but then so is her ambition and idealism. Patty Hewes is a very good woman. She is also a very bad one. There was the scene that found her sitting in a lawn chair. Informed by her Uncle Pete (Tom Aldredge) that Ellen had been killed, Patty showed remorse that seemed to spread from her legs, to her torso, and then to her head. Finally, she burst into a full-body volcanic eruption of horror and regret. Patty got over that. But then Frobisher’s lawyer, Ray Fiske (Zeljko Ivanek, who won an Emmy for best supporting actor), put a gun in his mouth and blew off the back of his head in front of her. That unspeakable memory has been harder to shake.

Simply put, Close’s Hewes is the most extraordinarily complicated, maddeningly obtuse character – male or female – on television at the moment. So, yeah. That’s why Close sounds pooped.

“At the end of last season when Fiske shot himself in front of me, that spun Patty to a place she’s never been before, in a place of not being totally in control,” said Close by phone from the “Damages” set in Queens, where cast and crew were nearing completion on the 13th and final episode for this season. (FX has already ordered a third.) “She’s still in that place of being highly traumatized … still a little fragile.”

Hewes, fragile? And there are other unexpected surprises in store this season. But first there’s a character to be revealed, and that is part of what you’ll be seeing as well. “You get to see a little bit more of the private side of Patty Hewes,” Close says.

After the Frobisher victory, Hewes is nursing her psyche back to health while trying to figure out what to do next. Funding a huge charity? Seems like a good idea, though she has to convince a major benefactor, Sam Arsenault (Broadway’s James Naughton, who will sing in a future episode), to kick in some dough.

Meanwhile, out of the dark, quite literally, appears an old acquaintance, Daniel Purcell, played by William Hurt. The last time Hurt and Close appeared together on-screen was in 1983′s “The Big Chill.” Of the reunion, Close says, “It was just a wonderful time with him [and] we have these competitive backgammon games in between [takes].”

The Purcell-Hewes relationship has a history, too. He’s an energy consultant who has the goods on a major energy company’s dirty tricks. He wants and demands Patty’s help as part of an old debt. She’s reluctant to give it.

“He’s very much a character who’s going to allow us to explore a substantial part of … Hewes’ history,” says Todd A. Kessler, one of “Damages’” three show-runners – the others are his brother, Glenn, who also plays FBI agent L.J. Werner, and Daniel Zelman. That history will include “a huge surprise for the audience, but just like Glenn Close and William Hurt, they have an equally rich history together and a lot of juicy stuff to discover about each other.”

From Newsday

I have to admit that when the first season aired, I missed it. Then one weekend a few months ago, FX ran an all-day marathon, and I got hooked. It really is the kind of show to buy on DVD, so you can watch the whole season all at once. For the second season, which airs Wednesday at 10 p.m., Academy Award-winners William Hurt and Marcia Gay Harden join the cast, and it looks *so good*.

Glenn Close and the cast of Damages are shown at the second season premiere celebration in New York on 12/13/08. Also shown are William Hurt, Tate Donovan, Rose Bryne, Anastasia Griffith and Timothy Olyphant. Credit: WENN

Will Smith has spent a good deal of time defending his Scientology-based school from claims that it’s… a Scientology school. You could see how people might think that. This weekend Smith repeated that although the school has some Scientology-based teaching methods, he himself is not a Scientologist.

Unlike a lot of other celebrities, Smith actually seemed a little open and willing to talk about it. He also confirmed that he spoke with the anti-Scientology group Anonymous – and even the group seems to be slightly less skeptical about Smith.

This year, news broke that Will had funded a school in suburban Los Angeles that used one of Scientology’s study programs. It seemed like Will and Jada were making a statement. But they didn’t actually make a statement.

Monday night, I ran into Mr. and Mrs. Smith at the premiere of “Lakeview Terrace,” which Will has produced with partner James Lassiter. Jada was there, too. And here’s the thing about Will and Jada: they are immensely likable. They are incredibly gracious … I told him I’d heard he’d given a press conference to the group called Anonymous, which protests Scientology.

“Not exactly a press conference, but I did talk to them,” he said. Mind you, Will had just gone to the buffet and was carrying a plate of food. This was up at the swanky new Empire Hotel rooftop following the premiere of “Lakeview,” which stars Samuel L. Jackson and Kerry Washington. So, what’s the story? Is Will a Scientologist? “I am not,” he told me. The school is using one of Scientology’s teaching tools, but Will said, “You can take different parts of things you like and put them all together.”

This is similar to what he told the Anonymous people (who remain, I presume, unknown). In their recent press release, the group said, “We appreciate Will’s interest in our efforts and his openness in speaking with us directly. It shows his concern both as a parent and educator.

“Anonymous is hopeful that NVLA will take the great strides necessary to correct for the deficiencies in Scientology’s Study Tech, or abandon them altogether. We will be keeping an eye on the situation to make sure that NVLA lives up to the goals Will Smith has for it, which include keeping the Church of Scientology out of the classrooms.”

[From Fox News via the Huffington Post]

I’m not sure if I buy that reasoning, but I think it says a lot about Will Smith that he actually spoke to Anonymous. I have yet to hear about anyone else doing that. I’ve never been able to figure out where Will stands on the Scientology issue. If he’s such a fan of it, why doesn’t he join the cult? Some people say he has, but again – if he had, why lie about it? Sure, it’s not good for his career, but it’s debatable whether it’d be significantly worse than the associations he already has with them.

Either way, it does speak better of Smith that he spoke with Anonymous and doesn’t get all haughty about Scientology like BFF Tom Cruise.

Here’s Will, Jada , and Caleb Pinkett at the New York Premiere of ‘Lakeview Terrace’ yesterday. Images thanks to WENN.

Respected actor William Hurt, who reportedly gave up alcohol years ago, is hitting the sauce again- and starting a ruckus. Hurt is in New York filming the FX series “Damages” with fellow “Big Chill” co-star Glenn Close, and apparently he’s found a favorite watering hole to get soused in. Patrons of the Jack the Horse Taven in Brooklyn report that Hurt has been drinking there nightly, and his most recent visit ended with him groping another man’s genitals and getting hostile when the bartender shut him off.

Now we know why they call him William “Hurt.”

The Oscar-winning actor grabbed a male customer by the “private parts” and manhandled a bartender during a bizarre booze-fueled display at a New York tavern recently, an eyewitness told The Enquirer exclusively.

Hurt, 58, had been patronizing Jack the Horse Tavern in Brooklyn Heights, NY, nearly every night for several weeks up until his bizarre meltdown, according to Tavern staff. Everything had been fine until that fateful evening.

“I have never seen anyone behave the way he did that night,” said the eyewitness.

“It was well after midnight when he arrived. He was drinking scotch and he proceeded to talk to the customers at the bar about his life as a film star.

“He said that when he worked on a film with Ted Danson, the first thing he did was grab Danson by the private parts and ask him, ‘Do you trust me?’

“Then he actually demonstrated this on some guy at the bar! The man fled afterward.”

When other patrons started to leave, the bartender refused to serve more alcohol to the “Big Chill” star.

[From The National Enquirer print version, Sept. 15, 2008]

Apparently, when the bartender shut Hurt off, he got nasty, and ended up verbally assaulting and crushing the man’s hand, refusing to leave until the place closed down. Hopefully, this was an isolated incident brought on by too much scotch. William Hurt does seem like an intense guy- someone with some demons to deal with. No police were called, but it’s doubtful that the actor will be welcomed back to that tavern again anytime soon.

William Hurt is shown on 7/14/08 at the Fox All-Star Party At The Pier in Santa Monica. Credit: WENN