Photo:Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
Bob Riha, Jr./Getty
Marlee Matlin’s historic Oscar win at just 21 was an unforgettable night — for all the wrong reasons.
At the 1987 Oscars, Matlin became the first deaf person to win an Oscar and the youngest Best Actress recipient for her work inChildren of a Lesser God. She attended the ceremony with her co-star and then-boyfriendWilliam Hurt, who was also nominated that evening for Best Actor. But as she reveals in Dave Karger’s new book50 Oscar Nights(out Jan. 23), the evening spiraled after her name was called.
“Bill congratulated me when I got the award. After I won, I stopped to look at the monitor to see if he had won the Oscar that night,” recalls Matlin, 58 in the new book. “When I found out that he didn’t win, my heart sank. I was afraid to see how he was going to react later at home, the fact that I won and he didn’t.”
When the couple left the show, things went downhill. “After the ceremony, Bill held my hand, and we found our limo. We got inside, sat down, and he was just staring at me. I could see him thinking. He was very quiet. And he said, ‘So you have that little man there next to you. What makes you think you deserve it?’ I looked at him like,What do you mean?And he said, ‘A lot of people work a long time, especially the ones you were nominated with, for a lot of years to get what you got with one film.’ "
Matlin continues: “I didn’t even dare to argue with him. I thought to myself,Is he right?I mean, hewas. But was he not happy for me?”
Marlee Matlin and William Hurt.Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty
Frank Trapper/Corbis via Getty
In 2010, Matlin alleged Hurt had also sexually assaulted her during their relationship in her memoirI’ll Scream Later, writing that Hurt attacked her while she was sleeping, “threw me on the bed, started ripping off his clothes and mine” and raped her.
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source: people.com
