Tearful Spacey says he was ‘shocked’ and ‘frightened’ by claims he made unwanted sexual advance on young actor
A tearful Kevin Spacey has told a court that he was “shocked”, “frightened” and “confused” by accusations that he made an unwanted sexual advance on a teenager in the 1980s.
Anthony Rapp says he was 14 when an intoxicated Spacey, then 26, climbed on top of him at a party in his Manhattan apartment in 1986.
Both were acting in Broadway plays at the time – Rapp in Precious Sons, and Spacey co-starring in A Long Day’s Journey Into The Night.
Anthony Rapp. Pic: NDZ/STAR MAX/IP
Rapp, now 50, said he squirmed out from underneath Spacey in the fully clothed encounter before running from the apartment, only to have the actor follow him and ask if he was sure he wanted to leave.
Spacey told a civil trial in Manhattan on Monday that he was “shocked” by the allegations, which were made public in a 2017 news report.
He said that, at the time, the #MeToo movement was gaining momentum and “the industry was very nervous”.
“There was a lot of fear in the air about who was going to be next,” he said.
“I was shocked. I was frightened and I was confused.
“I knew I had never been alone with Anthony Rapp.”
Spacey ‘regrets entire statement’
Spacey, 63, insisted he never had “any sexual interest in Anthony Rapp or any child – that I knew”.
Rapp, who was in the original cast of the musical Rent, filed his lawsuit in 2020, seeking compensatory and punitive damages up to $40m (about £35.9m).
After the allegations Spacey was edited out of the film All The Money In The World and replaced by Christopher Plummer as J Paul Getty. He was also sacked from the political drama series House Of Cards.
In court on Monday, he dabbed his eyes as he described being pressured into making a statement saying he did not remember anything happening with Rapp, but would be sorry “if” the allegations were somehow true.
He said he had since come to “regret my entire statement”, adding that his managers had said “it was the best way to contain a crisis that was going to get worse” and to avoid being accused of “victim shaming”.
‘My father was a white supremacist’
His account of the night was that he had met Rapp and another aspiring actor, John Barrowman, who was 19 at the time, backstage after a performance.
He had taken them to dinner, a nightclub and then to his apartment, where he had flirted with Barrowman but not with Rapp before the visitors left, he said.
Earlier, Spacey had told the court that he grew up in “a very complicated family dynamic”, describing his father as a “white supremacist and neo-Nazi”.
“It meant that my siblings and I were forced to listen to hours and hours of my father lecturing us about his beliefs,” he said.
“Everything about what was happening in that house was something I had to keep to myself.
“We never, ever, talked about it.
“I have never talked about these things publicly ever.”
As Spacey became interested in theatre, he said he endured the screams of his father, who “used to yell at me at the idea that I might be gay”.
The trial, which is in its third week, continues.
Saoirse Ronan has become one of the Academy Awards’ anomalies after being nominated four times without taking home a statuette.
The American-born Irish star received her first Oscars nod at the age of just 13, when she featured in the best supporting actress category for her role in Atonement.
Since then, despite being shortlisted three times for best actress for Brooklyn, Lady Bird and Little Women, she has never won.
Now, the 30-year-old is set to compete in both the lead and supporting actress categories at the 2025 awards for her new films The Outrun and Steve McQueen’s Blitz.
Saoirse Ronan stars in The Outrun. Pic: StudioCanal UK
If she secures one or both nominations, she would become the youngest actor to receive five, or six, nods.
Directed by Nora Fingscheidt, The Outrun, which is inspired by the life of writer Amy Liptrot, follows a Scottish woman struggling with alcoholism while living in fast-paced London.
In a bid to maintain her sobriety, she returns home to Orkney and finds herself in the process.
“Nora really wanted us to have our input in terms of who these characters were and situations that we would find them in”, Ronan told Sky News.
“We had a script that was written and the structure of it was there, but we were sort of able to fill in the gaps a little bit.”
The Outrun. Pic: StudioCanal UK
The Scottish drama marks the first time Ronan has worked as a producer on a project and she says she took a lot from the experience.
She said: “There is a lot going on behind the scenes that actors are protected from, and sometimes I think it would be valuable for an actor to know the drama that exists when they’re not around.
“I think it might make people behave a little bit better and to know that it is sort of like a domino effect when there’s one thing that’s out of place, it really will affect everything else by you not getting on to a call at a certain time.”
The Outrun. Pic: StudioCanal UK
She said it gave her a new appreciation for the craft.
“It’s very difficult to get an independent movie made and to try and source the money needed to just even pay people is difficult sometimes.
“So, yes, it’s just having an awareness of and the graft involved and that has definitely made me appreciate the movies that I’m on so much more where I am just an actor and I don’t have to worry about any of that stuff at all.”
The film also stars The Lazarus Project’s Paapa Essiedu as her boyfriend Daynin.
Battling with the person she has become, her character Rona returns to the Orkney Islands to try to reconnect with nature.
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The Oscar nominee said sea swimming at a remote location was therapeutic for the cast and crew.
“We finished [shooting] on Papa Westray, where we had to have a micro crew. There’s 90 inhabitants on the whole island.
“We stayed in people’s homes because there’s no hotels or anything like that. We ate together every night. We walked to work like it was a very stripped back experience in terms of filmmaking.
“And I think that was sort of felt like art imitating life a little bit after all the chaos of the beginning of the shoot. To have that at the end was wonderful.”
The Outrun is in cinemas now.
Pop star Lana Del Rey has married her alligator tour guide partner in Louisiana, according to reports.
The singer, 39, and Jeremy Dufrene, 49, are said to have obtained a marriage licence in Lafourche parish on Monday and had their wedding three days later.
Footage obtained by the Daily Mail appears to show Del Rey, whose real name is Elizabeth Woodridge Grant, wearing a white dress where Mr Dufrene works as a tour guide in Des Allemandes, south of New Orleans.
Del Rey has not commented on the reported wedding.
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She met Mr Dufrene in 2019, posting pictures of her on one of his tours with the caption: “Jeremy lemme be captain at Arthur’s Air Boat Tours x.”
Arthur’s Air Boat Tours gives guided tours through the local swamps, where its website says visitors are likely to see “300 species of birds” and “alligators up close and personal”.
Mr Dufrene’s profile page says he previously worked seven days a week at a chemical plant – when he would “shrimp on vacation days”.
“After a little convincing by his family, he got his captain’s licence and started running tours,” it adds.
“Jeremy’s a great airboat captain and loves interacting with wildlife & customers.”
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The couple were pictured together at Reading and Leeds festival this summer where Del Rey headlined.
She previously dated Scottish singer Barrie-James O’Neill for three years and was last linked to a police officer called Sean Larkin.
Entertainment
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: Woman accuses rapper of further sexual assault allegations in new lawsuit
Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with further sexual assault allegations after a woman filed a lawsuit in New York.
In the fresh civil case, the woman – identified by the pseudonym Jane Doe – claims she was repeatedly raped and drugged at the music mogul’s homes and became pregnant after one of the encounters.
It follows a series of similar legal cases brought by women against Combs, 54, who was arrested at a hotel in New York last week on sex trafficking, drug possession and firearms offences.
The latest lawsuit was filed on Friday against Combs, his companies and several associates, and seeks undisclosed damages for physical injuries, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety and other harm.
The woman claims she met Combs abroad in 2020 and that the assaults and harassment continued through to July this year.
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Rappers dodge Diddy question
She says she was often coerced and harassed into travelling to Combs’ homes in New York, Los Angeles and Miami and other cities, and during every visit the rapper would make her “perform a show” for him.
In one encounter alleged to have taken place in July 2022, the woman claims she blacked out after being forced to take drugs that included ketamine.
She later allegedly took a pregnancy test and told Combs it was positive. She said an associate of the music producer repeatedly demanded her to get an abortion. The lawsuit states she had a miscarriage.
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Diddy ‘didn’t do these things’ – lawyer
The woman, who is being represented by lawyers Marie Napoli and Joseph Ciaccio, also alleges Combs and his associates tracked her location and monitored her conversations.
She claims Combs discouraged her from working and gave her an “allowance” that he used to control her.
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“No one is above the law. Fame and wealth do not protect Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs from serious allegations of sex trafficking and abuse,” Ms Napoli said in a statement.
Combs has been facing civil allegations including rape, sexual assault, and forced drugging since November 2023.
He has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking but remains jailed, having been denied bail. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name.
A lawyer for Combs did not respond to the allegations made in Friday’s lawsuit when contacted by the Associated Press news agency.
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