National Enquirer Blind Item
WHAT Hollywood legend’s wife harassed a 16-year-old boy so much over a relationship-gone-wrong with her daughter that the teen jumped off a bridge in an attempted suicide?
The mother bombarded the boy with text messages, threatening to call the police because, she alleged, he’d been inappropriately involved with her underage daughter.
Despite suffering a broken pelvis, injured lung, broken wrist, sprained ankles and cuts and bruises, the boy is expected to recover from his 200-foot suicide leap.
While the A-lister’s wife is now calling the teen’s family with tearful apologies, her famous husband reportedly hasn’t said a word about the incident.
53 comments:
Spielberg's wife?
http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-03-11/bay-area/28678589_1_mary-currie-golden-gate-bridge-district-student
I'm guessing this is the boy
Hollywood legend can be an actor, director or producer.
Spielberg and Beatty come to mind first.
Kate Capshaw was my guess, too. The wording of the blind makes it sound as if the woman is more of a Hollywood Wife than a star in her own right (The Temple of Doom was a LONG time ago), and they're certainly rich enough to pay off a family.
I have mixed feelings about this one. On the one hand, I think the mother acted maliciously. But I also kind of think that suicidal tendencies are innate, and that a person can't really be *forced* into trying to end his own life. I don't know.
I just heard a Slate radio piece about the Phoebe Prince situation -- the girl who killed herself because she was supposedly bullied by six other kids? Well, NONE of those kids were previously regarded as bullies by their peers, and Phoebe already had a suicide attempt in her past before attending that school. In light of all that, it seems really unfair to saddle those six kids with the blame. I'm not sure the mother can be totally blamed, either. She's not the one who pushed the boy.
Just food for thought.
annette bening
Getting threats from the mom down the street is probably MUCH different from getting them from a mom who's husband can buy and sell the whole town/police dept/legal system.
Not saying they would but I can understand how a teenage boy can feel vastly overwhelmed at such a situation. Not too mention if he really had that whole 'I'm in love' thing going on and all of his contact with the daughter abruptly ended.
Whatever the situation, I'm glad he's expected to recover and hope he gets the help he needs.
PS Thanks for the link Mary. I think you're right.
Clint Eastwood. He and Dina have a 15-year-old daughter.
if there's really an 'inappropriate' (illegal?) relationship with your minor daughter, you go to the police or the boy's parents---not to the boy.
and i believe people CAN be pushed to suicide. how about not harrassing people so it's not even a possibility?
People can be pushed to suicide...especially when you are told that what you are doing (having sex) is a sin in the eyes of God.
I like the Eastwood guess.
Hmmmm, not sure I'm buying this one, National Enquirer.
It sounds like the boy dumped the daughter, but I like the Kate Capshaw guess. Except, since it is the Golden Gate Bridge, Clint Eastwood lives in Monterrey, so that works for him too.
@nancer exactly. Vigilante justice (which is what this is, in effect) is never the answer. Not to mention that it could easily have been the daughter telling malicious lies.
Ida -- STFU - you know nothing about the Phoebe Prince case, other than what you heard on Slate, which might as well have been written by these scumbags' defense attorneys --- next time, think again before putting it out there...
Calm down, Vincent. Since you're so insistent that Ida knows nothing about the PP case, would *you* care to enlighten us a bit about what you know? Don't just insult another person posting their opinion. Be constructive.
@Vincent -- telling me to STFU doesn't work in real life, friend. It's certainly not going to silence me here. And I've heard more than just the Slate piece. I keep up with numerous news outlets, thanks. And no, I don't consider CDAN "news."
Did you go to school with Phoebe and her peers? I'm curious as to what you know, since I've never seen you comment here before.
I'm not making light of suicide. It's obviously a tragic reality, but I think that the responsibility partly lies on the victim's loved ones to notice the signs of depression and offer as much help and compassion as possible before something terrible happens.
That boy was probably troubled before he even began his relationship with the celebrity's daughter. Just as Phoebe had a prior history of depression, I would imagine that he did, too.
That article makes it sound like the boy jumped for fun, not because he was troubled and attempting suicide. Of course when you're jumping off the golden gate bridge it's a suicide attempt no matter what.
.....
I want a reveal on this one.
Bullying is bad, mmmmmmkay?
Clint Eastwood and his wife sound like a good guess, especially when paired with the article Mary linked. I can imagine Eastwood wouldn't ever talk about the situation and asking the family to do the same in exchange for paid medical expenses and a trust made in the boy's name.
First-Hollywood wife needs to do some serious soul searching and the family of the teen would be justified getting a TRO and maybe a civil case.
That being said, I am going to say something very rude- fair warning-
I live in the Bay Area, I love SF and I had a very close friend jump to her death in the middle of night from the GGB.
Here is the rude part: I hate it when people chose to use the GGB as a staging place for his/her suicide during the day when there are children and others present and forcing them to unknowingly witness this act.
There is a very good documentary about people who committed suicide from the GGB. In one of the photos, a jumper is seen in the background while the parent is taking a picture of his children on their vacation. That would ruin my vacation for sure.
Now, I do totally understand suicide, depression and suicidal tendencies. I am recovering from a little over five years of daily suicidal thoughts and self harming actions. The Two Fridas, by Frida Kahlo looks like how I felt at times.
It has taken that long to learn that the depression was triggered by steroids and disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, sjogren's syndrome and raynaud's syndrome.
It also took that long to begin a long process of changing meds and adding meds until the depression was manageable.
So, I truly understand the pain one goes through. It is a horrible, torturous journey and one that I do not wish on anyone. It is bad enough when someone feels compelled to do this, even worse when you do it in front of unsuspecting witnesses.
Lastly, my daughter and I were talking about suicide last night. She said she thought doing it in public was a "douchey" act and she didn't want to have to be dragged into someone's tragedy.
Then she said that she was thankful that our neighbor, who committed suicide when she was in third grade, chose to do it away from home.
He drove to an uninhabited rural area, took a bunch of pills and crawled in the backseat of his car with a blanket pulled over his entire body.
I have also been a witness to an attempted suicide while on vacation in NYC-not a good memory.
And my husband almost lost his life when he pulled a jumper from a busy freeway overpass-he's cop and had to act.
From my experience, I think someone has to get help whether it is voluntary or not.
However, if one feels they have no other choice-don't do it in a public venue. Yeah I know I can be a selfish bitch because I don't want to witness something like that.
sorry for the long post
Sorry @Ida, but I have to disagree. Depending on the person bullying, just about anyone can be coaxed into suicidal actions. All the bully has to do is find a weakness (which we all have, btw) and pounce on it.
Even the most positive, sunny, peppy person has their blue days. If those days are discovered and exploited, it can be all over pretty quickly.
And no, I'm sorry, but the fact? that there was a previous suicide attempt does not excuse this shameful behavior. That's just another sleazy way of blaming the victim instead of holding the wrongdoers responsible.
@Ellebee - Thank you for your post. It was very informative. *hug*
I don't know if I buy the Spielberg/Capshaw guess seeing how much they have a love for children but I do remember hearing a bitchy story about Kate a few years ago. She was with a friend of hers and went inside a Blockbuster Video and one of the salesgirls recognized Kate (must have been a "Temple Of Doom" lover - as I am) and decided to hand her a screenplay to give Steven. The story goes that Kate complained to the manager and the girl got fired. True or not - I don't know. just a story I heard.
@Erin -- I know depression is a thorny subject, and that so many varying factors can contribute to a suicide. And honestly, I can see your points -- particularly about bullies finding weaknesses and pouncing on them, as you said. But I still think that there has to be some depression present already before a person attempts to end his own life. Having a school full of people who hate you for whatever reason isn't going to make you happier, though. It's not going to make you optimistic about the future. I realize that.
I was never a bully. I WAS bullied -- ketchup packets smashed against my locker, eggs on my front door, girls threatening to kick my ass after school -- and all this happened less than two days after I transferred to my new high school, so I hadn't had any time to offend ANYone. I KNOW I wasn't stealing away anyone's boyfriend, that's for sure. I was terribly shy.
Adolescence is miserable. Personally, I know I've never been so unhappy in my life. I'm grateful to have emerged from it unscathed, and I also know that not all kids are so lucky. I just wonder if this boy who tried to jump off the bridge had parents who noticed his despondency? I am NOT blaming them, but it just seems as if a kid who decides to jump the GGB was probably palpably sad for a long time before that.
I have two friends who attempted suicide while in their teens. They're both doing a billion times better, but I just remember replaying certain things over and over in my mind after the fact and wondering what I could have done or said to help matters.
I really don't mean to be insensitive about this topic -- and in regards to the Phoebe Prince situation, I guess I wanted to hear the other side of the story. I know kids can be unbearably cruel, but they're still just KIDS. It's hard for me to believe that a child would want another child to take her own life.
The Eastwoods live on the Monterey peninsula 2.5 hours away from the Golden Gate and even further from Windsor--like 3 hours or so. I doubt their daughter would date a boy who lives that far away. It's not them
*never mind the "tried" in regards to the boy who tried to commit suicide -- he DID jump off. My language should have reflected that. It's amazing he survived and isn't a paraplegic.
Slate had a writer who wrote pieces justifying the kids behavior and blaming Phoebe Prince (her bad personality justified all the attacks, and her suicide was just proof of how worthless she was, is the basic gist of Slate's attitude toward the poor girl). Anyone who participated in the fierce discussion boards on that topic will probably say harsh things when they hear people minimizing the monstrous behavior of the psycho kids who hounded Phoebe Prince to death. I'm just saying. Still, we all need to be nice to each other.
I doubt it's Eastwood. Annette Bening is a psycho and so is Kate Capshaw.
@Barton Fink -- "Slate had a writer who wrote pieces justifying the kids behavior and blaming Phoebe Prince (her bad personality justified all the attacks, and her suicide was just proof of how worthless she was, is the basic gist of Slate's attitude toward the poor girl)"
That's pretty hyperbolic. But I agree: we all need to be nice(r) to each other. Kids, adults, politicians, readers of celebrity blogs, etc...
@Jamie's Girl -- What in the world would make you think that Annette Bening is a "psycho"? THAT'S a broad statement. If anything, she's always come across to *me* as a mild, middle-aged Hollywood soccer mom who happens to be able to act her ass off.
Besides, she supported her daughter in her efforts to have a sex change. That's not psycho, in my book. It's loving, understanding, and compassionate.
Ellebee, I agree - I worked with a kid who saw another college student jump to his death from a dorm window, and it really messed him up.
@ Jamie's Girl - Sounds to me like you're confusing Annette with her "American Beauty" character.
Sigh. Annette Bening is NOT a psycho. Jesus.
I read this article, and it said the boy was on a school trip from Sonoma County - that's northern California, right? So who lives up there?
It said the wife bombarded the boy with text messages. I believe Annette said she doesn't use any kind of modern day technology like that. Hell, they used a publicist to quash rumours she was splitting up with Warren last year. A Publicist. Most celebs today just announce stuff on Twitter.
The Slate author sat with the families of the bullying kids during their trial, almost holding their hands, and her article almost shrieked with joy when they got off without prison time. Many Slate readers were incensed.
If this is true, I think the mother acted completely inappropriately. Parents tend to get WAY to involved in their children's social lives these days and depending on the severity of the daughter's situation, what right was it for her to get involved, sending threatening texts???
If the girl was dumped, the mother had no place to do ANYTHING. If there was some kind of bullying or anything else inappropriate going on, the mom should have gone to the boys parents or the police.
People are NUTS.
With respect, just because the peers of someone say they haven't bullied anybody doesn't mean it is true. The bullies from High School morph into the bullying adults. I had a situation at my gym, where I didn't do anything, and after 10 months of names calling (behind my back so I could hear but not to my face) I finally wrote a complaint letter. I guarantee that those who stood by and watched or actively participated would have lied through their teeth to say the lady hadn't done anything. The situation is over now, but I had to threaten lawyers.
Bullying sucks. This parent had no right to pick on a young person. If anything was illegal you go to the police. You support your child through the break-up. You act like a grown-up.
@Ida, while what you say is true about there usually being some depression present before committing suicide, the people who actually attempt it seem better before they do it. Why? Because a truly depressed person doesn't have the energy to come up with a plan, let alone go through with it. It's when that person appears happier that you need to be really worried, and step up the support. When I was working as a therapist, seeing previously depressed clients always left me worried that this might be the time they try to kill themselves. They say as a therapist, you will lose at least one client to suicide. I had one client die, due to gang violence he initiated, but it was devastating. I was left wondering what more I could have done as a therapist, but I know I did all I could, and he simply didn't want to leave the gang world. I'm glad I didn't have to go through losing a client to suicide before I switched careers.
I had a friend who's brother jumped off the GGB when I was in high school. He also did it in broad daylight, and people rushed to try to stop him, with no luck. It was a terrible thing to see.
As someone who has attempted suicide, I take exception to the thought that I wouldn't have tried if there wasn't already something wrong with me. There can be outside influences that push you over the edge. Walk a mile...
It's Clint Eastwood's wife- 100%. My friend's brother lives in Carmel- I heard the story last weekend. Apparently the boy is a sports star at one of the High Schools. He slept with Eastwood's daughter and then slept with another girl who was a few years older later the same day. Eastwood's daughter found out and went crying to her mother. Her mom then started majorly harrassing the boy and sent him all kinds of threatening messages...
Sorry, I'm late to the party... I live in Sonoma County and the boy that jumped from the GG Bridge had just transfered to the school in February (couldn't find where they said he moved from). All accounts say he jumped from other bridges in the area and was kind of a daredevil. Although it did say he had a broken tailbone and a punctured lung, which is similar to the blind.
GRCD that makes no sense, unless he just moved from Carmel. That's the ONLY way Eastwood makes sense. Windsor and Carmel are in the same state but they are 3 hrs apart. Besides, I don't think Dina is that psycho. I have a place on the Monterey peninsula not too far from Clint. (not in his calibre of house, by a long shot)
Middle-aged Diva (Carol) said...
The Eastwoods live on the Monterey peninsula 2.5 hours away from the Golden Gate and even further from Windsor--like 3 hours or so. I doubt their daughter would date a boy who lives that far away. It's not them.
_____________________________________
I'm a native San Franciscan and Monterey is a lot closer than LA, which is five to eight hours away from the Golden Gate Bridge.
Oh I forgot to mention the only other Hollywood types around (that I can think of) are Sean Penn (Mill Valley) and Robin Williams (San Francisco). I think their daughter are a bit older though.
I want to thank you for your kind words earlier today. Depression or any other mental illness needs to be looked at as an illness. I balked when my doctor suggested anti-depressants. He told me if you had an ear infection and I gave you a prescription for that it's okay-right? Same thing here, you are ill, you need medication and some of types of help and you maybe okay. So I wish everyone could see that for the most part mental illness is a very real illness-but certain environmental stressers can trigger those thoughts and water-falling them through your mind. There is so much stigma involved and there really shouldn't be any. If your body chemistry is off, then it is off and needs to be fixed.
I hope that this situation, as bad as it is, will show the families involved that there are many more positive things we can do for others in our community-I don't think stalking teenage boys is an option.
The important thing to remember is there is a trigger that stirs and awakens this dormant behavior. It is like when you get the chicken pox as a kid then 35 years later you have an out break of shingles-same virus. Except in mental health we have certain social actions/reactions that will trigger the behavior.
I truly hope that the boy will find the peace, love and solitude he so desperately needs. And I hope Hollywood mom will take a step back and see what ways could she have handled this situation better.
So thank you all for you opinions on this topic-it is such a huge one and we each can bring something different to the table and I hope that we can learn from each other and learn to love each other. Shit, I am saying nice things, which means my pain meds have kicked in and I need to sleep. Take care all, have a great evening and thanks for post your thoughts. I love reading what everyone has to say.
Thanks again, Elle B
@Melanie -- "the people who actually attempt it seem better before they do it. Why? Because a truly depressed person doesn't have the energy to come up with a plan, let alone go through with it."
Oh, man. That's completely logical, actually -- it makes (tragic) sense. :-(
@Ellebee -- I hardly know you, of course, but it seems as if you're doing loads better today, and that's inspirational. I'll bet it's a real struggle, though. Depression isn't something to ever be trivialized, and I wish you the best of luck. I hope you're sharing your story with other outlets, because you're an awesome writer, too. You're obviously an incredibly strong person, and you seem to have a wise outlook on all this. Hugs to you.
Same goes for all the other readers who've known victims of suicide. I'm genuinely sorry if I sounded flippant in my earlier comments. There's a difference between saying something disparaging about some dumb starlet and giving an opinion about an issue that's probably affected far too many of you. I can deal with offending people, but not *hurting* them -- and I genuinely apologize if that's what I did.
I've just spent some time lately considering these cases and wondering about the complicated catalysts and factors which lead to suicide attempts. I guess all I can do in my own life is be observant and empathetic with my loved ones and everyone else around me.
THANK YOU BARTON FINK! You know what the real story is...
To Ida --- I'm sorry you were bullied, it never should have happened to you - so, knowing what you've endured should make you a better champion for victims' rights -
I was not a student in that town in MA - I was a parent in that town at one time, and know how the "they're just kids" excuse played out among the teachers, administrators, and school committee heads in this SPECIFIC case - do yourself a favor, google this poor girl's name, and read all of the Boston newspaper articles detailing the torment, incident after incident...
Oh - and unless you have specific knowledge about all of the facts of a case, - "just sayin" might be your 1st Amendment right - but STFU anyway - your judgement sucks....
@Vincent -- thanks for ending this thread on such a kind, tolerant, and not judgmental at ALL note.
Ida, I think you're the first person I've ever seen on a comment thread to review your own words, reconsider them, and rethink your opinion. I just wanted to give you kudos for that, since Vincent was so rude!
Sorry -- Late to the game as usual. Ellebee? Thank you for your posts. They were awesome, inspired, moving and conveyed so much wisdom and knowledge. Hope that readers take them to heart and that you continue on your path -- You sound like you've made so much progress and are helping others as you go along. All the best to you!
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