First-son Hunter Biden was banned from the infamous Chateau Marmont, where Saturday Night Live star John Belushi famously overdosed in 1982, for ‘drug use,’ text messages retrieved from his laptop show.
Biden had stayed at the Sunset Boulevard hotel for an ‘undetermined amount of time’ in 2018, following his divorce from Kathleen Buhle and during an extended period of drug use he chronicled in his memoir ‘Beautiful Things,’ according to the Washington Examiner, which recently obtained his 2017 MacBook Pro.
‘Did you know that I have to get pre-approval from the GM at the Chateau before I am allowed to make a reservation,’ he texted one of the hotel employees.
‘Seriously, I tried to stay there last night and the Ass. handed me keys when he read a note in the system that said under no circumstances am I allowed in bldg without her pre-approval.’
First son Hunter Biden (left and right, with a pipe) was banned from Chateau Marmont due to drug use, according to his texts
The Marmont is infamous for its many stories of celebrities doing drugs and acting scandalous
Hunter, the son of President Joe Biden (with him in January, right) has long struggled with drugs
The employee then reportedly offered to check on Biden’s status, and texted him back later: ‘Apparently you were banned for “drug use” is what I was told, which is bulls***.’
‘You have to be ducking kidding me,’ Biden later replied. ‘I was banned for drug use at the Chateau Marmont. You have to be f****** kidding me.’
‘Lol exactly,’ the employee responds.
‘Well that’s a f****** first in the hotel’s history I guess,’ Biden says. ‘Should I take it as a badge of honor?’
The employee then tells him not to stress and suggests the two get a drink.
‘I have never ever been rude or have had a complaint against me from a guest or employee,’ Biden wrote in response. ‘I kind of thought I was an employee favorite. And they ban me without telling me directly. I have to find out from the night desk guy.’
He then moved over to La Peer, another West Hollywood luxury hotel, and his conversation with the employee picked up again a few months later, with the employee, who has not been named, texting him: ‘Your profile does say BLACKLISTED.
‘There was a hole in the wall of one of the rooms you had,’ the employee explained.
‘A hole – what does that even mean?’ Biden asked in response. ‘And why would a [hole] in the wall not be something I paid to repair?’
‘And I’ve never put a f****** hole in any wall,’ he claimed, before he and the employee discussed how he could retrieve his belongings from the hotel, which has become infamous for the many celebrities who have reportedly done drugs there.
Actresses Jennifer Aniston and Rose McGowan posed for a selfie during the CAKE party for Jennifer Aniston hosted by Perrier-Jouet And Cinelou Films at Chateau Marmont’s Bar Marmont on December 5, 2014
Marilyn Manson and Dita von Teese attend RABIN RODGERS 5 Year Anniversary Party in 2006
Elton John kissed Elizabeth Taylor’s hand at a surprise party for him at the hotel in 2000
(L-R) Jason Patric, Chris Noth, Annette Bening, and Warren Beatty attend the 2016 GQ Men of the Year Party at Chateau Marmont on December 8, 2016
Daryl Hannah and William Baldwin at a celebrity poetry reading at the hotel in 1991
Antonio Banderas and Daryl Hannah during HBO Films Pre Golden Globes Party at Chateau Marmont in Los Angeles. Year unknown
In 1982, John Belushi had been staying in one of the bungalows on a five-day cocaine bender with Robert DeNiro and Robin Williams when he overdosed, which wound up inspiring other drug addicts to want to stay in Belushi’s former bungalow, according to the New York Post.
A few years later, singer Rick James also overdosed at the hotel, but was revitalized.
Doors lead singer Jim Morrison also once jumped off a balcony at the hotel and was known to leave bloody sheets in his bedroom for the maids to clean up, while singer James Taylor reportedly shot heroin there in front of Carly Simon.
And in 2006, just two years before his untimely death, Heath Ledger was filmed using cocaine on the hotel’s front balcony after winning a Screen Actor’s Guild Award.
The Chateau Marmont: A history of scandal
The Chateau Marmont’s reputation as the place to go to misbehave dates back to the days of the Motion Picture Code of the 1930s and the purity seal of 1934.
The code specified not only what could and could not be shown on screen, but also its expectations of a star’s behavior off camera.
Since then, at the hotel:
Howard Hughes reportedly spied on women at the Chateau pool using prism binoculars
In 1982, Saturday Night Live star John Belushi died of an overdose at the hotel
In 1955, James Dean supposedly jumped through a window to audition for Rebel Without a Cause. Director Nicholas Ray lived in a bungalow at the time, where he was having an affair with underaged Natalie Wood.
Members of Led Zeppelin rode their motorcycles through the lobby in the 1960s.
Comedian John Belushi died from a speedball injection in Bungalow No. 3.
Photographer Helmut Newton, who lived at the hotel, lost control of his Cadillac and crashed into the driveway wall. He was killed.
During her public meltdown phase, in September 2007, Britney Spears was temporarily banned from the Chateau for smearing her face with food, disgusting fellow diners.
— Lohan was finally banned in 2012 (she’d been living in Suite No. 33) after racking up a $46,350.04 tab on stuff like cigarettes, candles, iPhone chargers, and copies of Architectural Digest.
Source: Curbed LA
Last year, though, owner André Balazs announced that he would convert the famed 20’s era hotel into a private members-only hotel due to the pandemic.
He said he thought guests would be more comfortable sharing space with a pre-vetted group, rather than surrounded by throngs of tourists that often frequent the restaurant and ornate lobby looking for celebrities.
This is not the first time the younger Biden has previously come under investigation for his drug use.
In 2016, he allegedly dropped off a rental car in Prescott, Arizona, leaving behind a crack pipe and white powder, his driver’s license and his late brother Beau’s attorney general badge.
The next day, he allegedly used a fake name to call the Hertz rental company and tell them he left the keys in the car’s gas tank compartment.
Police report they called in the FBI and Hunter was ‘located by Secret Service’ and found to be well.
The Prescott Police Department also said they could not find any fingerprints on the pipe, but it was unclear whether the department tried to extract DNA from the pipe.
And in April, DailyMail.com reported that he had stayed in a third-floor suite of The Jeremy Hotel in Los Angeles for a week, ordering room service each night, dinking at the hotel bar and racking up a $5,195 bill, including a $400 fine for smoking in his room.
During the stay, he also sought refills for prescriptions of a generic equivalent to Viagara called Sildenafil, the antidepressant Lexapro and anxiety medication clonazepam.
He had also texted his father, now President Joe Biden, about his struggles and the president had offered to pay for his grandchildren’s medical care when Hunter ran out of money.