We recently asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a really awful scandal that Hollywood just casually forgot about, but they can never forget. Here are the head-shaking results:
Warning: Mentions of child abuse, assault, domestic violence, and murder.
1.“The number of men in Hollywood who have been accused of domestic violence and we just keep throwing roles and awards at them…for example, Christian Slater.”
According to Complex, “In 1977, he [Slater] spent 100 days in rehab followed by three months in jail for assaulting his then-girlfriend and a police officer. In the 1980s, he was sentenced to 10 days in jail for drunk driving and assault. He was arrested for possessing a weapon in 1995. In 1998, he again spent 90 days in jail, three months in rehab, and a year in a treatment program for batterers for beating his girlfriend during a ‘drug and alcohol bender.’ Finally, in 2005, Slater was arrested for sexual harassment.”
When asked during a 2017 interview with the Daily Beast if he “regretted his wilder years,” Slater replied, “No, no. I regret nothing.”
2.“Rebecca Gayheart struck and killed a 9-year-old boy crossing a street in June 2001. Cars had stopped to allow him to cross, and she impatiently drove into the 2-way turn lane to go around the cars and hit him. She only received probation and a $2,800 fine. It bothers me every time I see her.”
According to the LAPD, “[Gayheart] entered a two-way left turn lane with the intent to pass other northbound vehicles that had slowed. Several vehicles had come to a stop to allow 9-year-old Jorge Cruz to cross the street. Jorge Cruz lived in the area and was crossing about 160 feet south of the nearest intersection. As Cruz reached the center of the roadway he was struck by Gayheart’s vehicle which was estimated by witnesses to be traveling in excess of 40 miles per hour. Cruz sustained severe head trauma and was transported to Children’s Hospital by Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics. Cruz remained in critical condition until 9:10 a.m. the next morning when he was pronounced dead due to injuries he sustained in the collision.”
According to a 2019 interview with The Only One in the Room podcast, Gayheart paid for the funeral expenses for the boy and settled a wrongful death lawsuit with the boy’s family out of court. Gayheart said, “I did not cope very well after. I just didn’t want to live after that accident. That’s what it came down to. I couldn’t handle it at all. So I spent about a year just trying to kill myself, basically, by doing every self-destructive thing a person can do.”
3.“Kenneth Branagh cheating on Emma Thompson with Helena Bonham Carter. It was in 1995, and I’m still mad about it. HOW COULD SOMEONE CHEAT ON EMMA THOMPSON??”
According to the Independent, “After two years of dating, Thompson and Branagh married on Aug. 20, 1989. […] The relationship didn’t last, and the couple ultimately announced their separation in 1995. It was later revealed that Branagh was having an affair with Helena Bonham Carter.”
“Thompson would go on to tell the New Yorker that the real reason for the divorce was her discovery that Branagh had started a relationship with Bonham Carter, who was starring in his film Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein.
“I was utterly, utterly blind to the fact that he had relationships with other women on set,” she told the outlet. “What I learned was how easy it is to be blinded by your own desire to deceive yourself.'”
4.“Judith Barsi, the little girl who voiced Ducky in the original The Land Before Time (1988) film, was murdered by her father a few months before the film premiered. She was only 10 years old.”
Before her death, Judith was a rising star in…
Read More: 23 Really Awful Scandals Hollywood Just Casually Forgot About, But The Rest Of Us Did Not