Hollywood Sex Scandals

BY: Matt Elisofon

Mary Astor’s Diary Exposure

During a 1936 custody battle, Astor, a Golden-era leading lady, was smeared by her ex-husband, who stole her damning diary and attempted to present it to the court. The diary, which recounted in lascivious detail her affair with famed playwright George S. Kaufman, wasn’t admitted as evidence, but excerpts made it into the pulpy pages of the tabloids and caused a sensation. To her credit, Astor won custody of her daughter and went on to have a fine career, including her signature role in The Maltese Falcon (1941).

 

Roman Polanski’s Fateful Photo Shoot

In 1977, eight years after the grisly murder of his wife, Sharon Tate, at the hands of the Manson Family, Polanski, the Oscar-winning, Holocaust-surviving director of Chinatown and Rosemary’s Baby, hit the headlines again when he was arrested for drugging and raping a 13-year-old model he photographed at Jack Nicholson’s house. After pleading guilty to a lesser charge and serving time pre-sentencing, Polanski famously fled to Europe when his sleazy L.A. judge was about to renege on the deal. A French citizen, Polanski has continued to make films in exile—and won another Oscar for The Pianist (2002). His victim, Samantha Geimer, after being paid damages, has publicly forgiven him. [Photo: Alamy]

 

Errol Flynn’s Underage Affairs

Is it a surprise that the man who said, “I like my whiskey old and my women young,” got embroiled in the biggest statutory rape case of all time? In 1943, due to allegations made against Flynn by two teenage girls, the famed swashbuckler was brought up on charges and plastered across front pages. Thanks to a slick legal team, and the fact that nine of the twelve jurors were women who, according to one witness, “just sat there and looked adoringly at him,” Flynn was acquitted. An ace under pressure, Flynn actually picked up a teenage snack-bar attendant at the courthouse while he was on trial and married her. There’s a reason that the saying goes “in like Flynn.” Even after his 1959 death, the mother of Beverly Aadland (with Flynn in Associated Press photo above) claimed that Flynn had had an affair with her when she was only 15.

 

Hugh Grant’s Hooker Hookup

One enchanted evening in 1995, the English prince of romcoms was caught deviating from both his classy public persona and from then girlfriend Elizabeth Hurley when L.A. police busted him in his parked BMW receiving fellatio from a prostitute named Divine Brown. Apparently Ms. Brown was too good at her job, causing Grant to kick the break pedal in ecstasy and light up the taillights, alerting the cops. The incident proved embarrassing, but both rallied, with Grant continuing to hit box-office home runs and Brown raking in over a million dollars for interviews and appearances. Oh, what a night!

 

Elizabeth Taylor’s Home-wrecking Affairs

Glamorous Liz Taylor had a knack for blowing up marriages, even her own. Reeling from the death of third husband Mike Todd in a fatal plane crash in 1958, Taylor began an affair with singer Eddie Fisher—married to musical star Debbie Reynolds; their daughter is Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher—whom she eventually wed. (In the photo above, from left, is Taylor, Fisher and Reynolds [Hulton Archive / Stringer].) Just as the new Mrs. Fisher’s “home-wrecker” title began to ebb, she engaged in one of the most sensational liaisons of all time with Cleopatra co-star Richard Burton, who was married as well. They would use the ignominy to their advantage, co-starring in several hits before marrying and divorcing… twice.

 

Brangelina Is Born

This explosive tabloid portmanteau was sparked by the alleged affair of megastars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie on the set of their two hander, Mr. & Mrs. Smith (2005). Pitt’s denial of infidelity notwithstanding—he was married to Jennifer Aniston (in photo above) at the time—soon after wrapping Smith, he left Aniston and took up with Angie. So far, they’ve racked up ten years and six children together. Long live Brangelina!

 

Eddie Murphy’s Transgender Pick-up

Let’s just say the ’90s weren’t as kind to SNL superstar Eddie Murphy as the decade prior. In 1997, with most of his best work behind him, the comedy legend’s reputation sunk when Atisone Seiuli, a “known transgender prostitute” was arrested in Murphy’s Land Cruiser. Somehow the police bought his story that he was just giving her a ride at 4:45 in the morning and didn’t arrest him. But the tabloids sure didn’t buy it.

 

Gloria Grahame Takes a Step-motherly Misstep

Celebrated ’40s-’50s film noir moll Gloria Grahame (The Big Heat) set fire to her marriage and eventually her career when her husband—Rebel Without a Cause director Nicholas Ray—discovered her in bed with his 13-year-old son Tony (Gloria’s stepson). A few years later, in 1962, when news broke that Grahame had married Tony and had children, her career and reputation went into free fall. On the bright side, this Oedipal creepshow saw no fathers killed and no eyes stabbed out!

 

Loretta Young and Clark Gable’s Love Child

Too ashamed to admit that she had an on-set affair with married co-star Clark Gable while filming The Call of the Wild (1935)—and too Catholic to abort the resulting pregnancy—Loretta Young fled to Europe and returned with an “adopted” daughter named Judy. Lie as Young might, Judy’s large, Gable-esque ears—which her mother would have surgically pinned back—spoke the truth. When Judy confronted her mother years later, Loretta finally unburdened herself of the world’s worst kept secret and they each released books about it in 1994 and 2000, respectively. [Photo: SNAP]

 

Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Terminated Marriage

In 2011, the story surfaced that California’s Governator had a son with his housekeeper over a decade earlier while wife Maria Shriver (JFK’s niece) was becoming pregnant with their son Christopher (the two children were born days apart). Shriver, perhaps the first Kennedy on the aggrieved side of a sex scandal, confronted Arnold, who confirmed her fears, and she moved out immediately. Joseph Baena, the love child, is now all grown up and the spitting image of his father.

 

John Travolta: a Magnet for Gay Claims

Reviving rumors that originally surfaced in 1990 when a gay porn star claimed in the National Enquirer to have had an affair with Travolta, two masseurs sued him for sexual assault in 2012. The Grease star got both cases dismissed only to have a male pilot, who worked for Travolta in the ’80s, then claim that they had been lovers. As of 2015, the suit over the pilot’s tell-all was dismissed in Travolta’s favor. Gay or not, Danny Zuko has amazing lawyers.

 

Ben Affleck Undone by Nanny

Sleeping with the babysitter is almost a cliché at this point, but here we are. Last year, the internet exploded with incriminating images and reports that Ben Affleck was getting it on with his kids’ nanny, Christine Ouzounian. While Ben denied the affair, Christine did her best to stretch her 15 minutes and get Matt Damon’s buddy all to herself. Apparently, the naughty nanny even left a pregnancy test for Garner to find in order to hasten a divorce, which, over a year later, has yet to be finalized.

 

Rob Lowe: Sex Tape Pioneer

This year we could use a reminder that folks have a habit of making poor decisions at political conventions. While campaigning for Mike Dukakis at the 1988 DNC, Brat Pack pretty boy Rob Lowe and friend Justin Moritt filmed a group sex encounter they had with two girls aged 16 and 18. The sex tape that resulted became one of the first of its kind to be widely viewed by the public. Still, Lowe and his unflagging acting career have proved impervious to both scandal and the effects of aging.