Actress Marlee Matlin paid tribute to late actor and ex-partner William Hurt as a ‘great actor’ and ‘one-of-a-kind’ man during an uncomfortable red carpet interview on Sunday night – 13 years after she accused him of brutally raping and beating her during their two-year relationship in the mid-80s.
The 56-year-old CODA star, who is deaf, visibly struggled to respond after being asked about Hurt’s passing at the Critics Choice Awards, shrugging her shoulders and raising up her hands, before signing: ‘You’re the first person to ask me about him.’
After a pause, she then continued: ‘We’ve lost a really great actor and working with him on set in Children of a Lesser God will always be something I remember very fondly,’ Matlin said of Hurt, who she dated for two years. ‘He taught me a great deal as an actor and he was one-of-a-kind.’
Her positive words about the actor starkly contrast the recollections about their relationship that she included in her 2009 book, I’ll Scream Later, in which she accused the actor of persistently abusing her throughout their two-year romance.
Matlin and Hurt, who met on the set of the movie Children of a Lesser God – for which she won an Oscar – began dating in the mid-80s, when she was 19 and he was 35.
However, decades after they split, Matlin claimed in her memoir that she faced repeated physical, emotional, and sexual abuse at the hands of Hurt, alleging in one particularly disturbing passage that he brutally raped her after he ‘came home around 4:30AM drunk’.
Actress Marlee Matlin was lost for words on Sunday night after being asked about the death of her ex-partner William Hurt – 13 years after she accused him of raping and abusing her
Matlin, now 56, began dating Hurt (seen together in 1986) in the mid-80s, when she was 19 and he was 35; she claimed in her 2009 book, I’ll Scream Later, that he persistently abused her during the relationship
The actress struggled to respond after being asked about Hurt’s death from cancer on Sunday, before composing herself and praising him as a ‘great actor’ and a ‘one-of-a-kind’ man
‘We’ve lost a really great actor and working with him on set in Children of a Lesser God will always be something I remember very fondly,’ she said
‘I was scared, I was sobbing. Then he threw me on the bed, started ripping off his clothes and mine. I was crying. “No, no, no. Please Bill, no.” The next thing I remember is Bill ramming himself inside me as I sobbed.’
In a statement issued by Hurt in 2009, the actor did not deny the allegations made by his former girlfriend, but insisted that both he and Matlin had ‘apologized’ to one another and ‘done a great deal to heal their lives’.
‘My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives,’ he said.
‘Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we both have grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.’
After Matlin’s accusations against Hurt were made public, she opened up in further detail about their relationship in an interview with Access Hollywood, claiming that she was ‘always afraid’ of the actor during their romance.
‘But I loved him. I did. Or maybe I thought I did. But look, I was 19, he was 35,’ she said, adding that they ‘were together for two years.’
When asked about physical abuse, Matlin said she ‘always had fresh bruises everyday… and if I had a split lip, or if… I mean, there were a lot of things that happened that were not pleasant.’
However, the actress said she did not considering filing charges against the actor at the time because she was dealing with addictions to marijuana and cocaine, which ‘took over her brain’.
‘I was so wrapped up in his world and my drugs,’ she said. ‘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.
‘I could say that I understand how women are afraid to leave an abusive relationship. They should, but at the same time, I understand how they don’t know how.’
The Morton Grove, Illinois native also detailed an incident with Hurt that occurred after she won the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance in Children of a Lesser God.
Matlin’s words starkly contrast the allegations of abuse against Hurt, which were featured in her book; in one particularly disturbing passage, she accused the actor of brutally raping her
The actress, who met Hurt while filming Children of a Lesser God (pictured), alleged that he ‘came home around 4:30AM drunk’, ‘pulled her out of bed… ripped off her clothes… and rammed himself inside her’ as she sobbed
She said in the book that he told her, ‘What makes you think you deserve it? There are hundreds of actors who have worked for years for the recognition you just got handed to you. Think about that.’
Matlin said Hurt also suggested she take acting classes following her Academy Award win.
The actress once again spoke out about the allegations in her book in a 2021 interview with The Guardian, telling the publication that she didn’t hesitate when it came to her decision to include such graphic details about the alleged abuse.
‘I could not wait to tell my story, to talk about what I went through,’ she said, adding that she was not afraid of any backlash, either professionally or personally, ‘because it was the truth’.
‘I didn’t even give it a second thought, because it was the truth. It was my truth – and up to me to tell it my way,’ she insisted.
Matlin, whose allegations about Hurt did not initially receive a huge amount of media coverage following the book’s publication, said that she ‘felt a vindication’, when in 2017, the #MeToo movement threw sexual abuse and harassment into the spotlight.
‘I could understand the anger. I could understand the cry for help. I applauded each person who came out and talked about their experiences and understood that it isn’t easy,’ she said.
”People got blacklisted – it happened to some of those actresses. If it happened to you, have a right to talk about it.’
Hurt’s son Will confirmed the actor’s passing at 71 in a statement issued on Sunday, shortly before the Critics Choice Awards.
‘It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday,’ he said.
‘He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.’
Hurt announced in 2018 that he was diagnosed with with terminal prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
The former couple dated for two years in the mid-1980s after meeting on Children of a Lesser God
Hurt’s son Will confirmed the actor’s passing at 71 in a statement Sunday. The actor was snapped in 2016 in LA
Matlin was not the only star to speak out about the actor’s death at the Critics Choice Awards, which took place just hours after the news was made public.
Hurt’s former The Doctor co-star, Christine Lahti, 71, told AP: ‘I was star-struck by him,’ adding ‘his mind would never stop’.
In the wake of Hurt’s passing, a number of his colleagues also took to Twitter to pay memorial to the late actor.
Albert Brooks wrote, ‘R.I.P. William Hurt. So sad to hear this news. Working with him on Broadcast News was amazing. He will be greatly missed.’
Mark Ruffalo said, ‘Wow, another Major loss to the acting community. Great actor. Great mind. RIP.’
Topher Grace, who worked with Hurt in 2011’s Too Big to Fail, wrote: ‘Grateful that I had the opportunity to work with William Hurt. I admired his acting so much and watching his commitment in person was remarkable. My thoughts are with his family.’
Author Brian Koppelman called Hurt ‘a magnificent actor’ and one of his all-time favorites.
‘Never met him or worked w him but always admired the hell out of his work,’ Koppelman said. ‘Check Cronenberg’s History Of Violence for a great, late era performance.’
The Washington, D.C.-born actor had won an Academy Award for his role in the 1985 motion picture Kiss of the Spider Woman, and had been nominated for his performances in movies including 2005’s A History of Violence, 1987’s Broadcast News and 1986’s Children of a Lesser God.
More recently, Hurt had appeared in several Marvel Universe films playing the role of General Thaddeus Ross in motion pictures including 2008’s The Incredible Hulk, 2016’s Captain America: Civil War, 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, 2019’s Avengers: Endgame and 2021’s Black Widow.
The actor studied his craft at Juilliard and appeared in multiple stage productions for the Circle Repertory Company prior to being cast in the 1980 film Altered States as Eddie Jessup.
He went on to appear in a number of notable films including 1981’s Body Heat and The Big Chill and Gorky Park in 1983 prior to his Oscar-winning turn for Best Actor in a Leading Role as Luis Molina in the 1985 movie Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Before his relationship with Matlin, Hurt was married to actress Mary Beth Hurt, whom he wed in 1971. However the pair divorced in 1982 after what was described as a ‘long separation’.
Prior to his divorce, Hurt became romantically involved with dancer Sandra Jennings, with whom he had a son, Alexander, in 1983.
He married his second wife, Heidi Henderson, in 1989. The pair had two children together – sons Samuel and William – before divorcing in 1993.
Hurt also had a daughter, Jeanne Bonnaire-Hurt, in 1994 from his relationship with French actress Sandrine Bonnaire.