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Fox News
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
'Happy Days' star Henry Winkler took Marlee Matlin in after difficult relationship with William Hurt
When Marlee Matlin ended her tumultuous relationship with William Hurt, she leaned on her mentor, Henry Winkler, for support. The Oscar winner is detailing her rise to Hollywood stardom in a new documentary, "Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore." According to the film, Matlin turned to the "Happy Days" star after she ended her relationship with actor William Hurt. In the documentary, Matlin claimed that her "Children of a Lesser God" co-star had a "habit of abuse." Hurt died in 2022 at age 71. The 59-year-old, who is deaf, told Fox News Digital through an interpreter that turning to Winkler during a difficult time in her life was a no-brainer. "He didn't make it hard for me to reach out to him," said Matlin. "He was always available. It was like an open door – an open door to his heart and my heart. And he knew that." "He knows that he's done that to a lot of people," she shared. "But to have that close relationship, I was just very, very fortunate. And I knew that both he and his wife were gold to me. I don't think if I had Henry in my life, I would be here. I don't think I would've made it this far. I don't think so." Hurt and Matlin starred in the 1986 film about a deaf woman's romance with a hearing-speech teacher. Matlin was 19 when she was cast opposite Hurt, 35. While the relationship was plagued with problems, Matlin did credit Hurt for inspiring her to check into the Betty Ford Center after using up every bit of cocaine and marijuana she had in their New York City apartment. However, post-rehab, Matlin realized their relationship would not be the same. "I walked out of that house and never went back," she said in the film. Winkler encouraged a sober Matlin to visit him and his wife Stacey Weitzman at their California home. There, they could "talk." Matlin took up his offer. The actor, who catapulted to fame as "The Fonz," described Matlin knocking on his door. WATCH: 'HAPPY DAYS' STAR HENRY WINKLER SHARES HIS FONDEST MEMORY FROM THE SHOW "'I just broke up with my boyfriend,'" Winkler recalled Matlin telling him in the film. "'Can I stay with you just for the weekend?' 'Sure. Stace, what do you think?' 'Of course.'" "Two years later, she finally moved out!" Winkler chuckled. Matlin said Winkler and his family took her in "as if I were one of their own." Winkler noted that Matlin was not "completely whole at that time." "What I told her was, 'If you know what you want without ambivalence, if you're clear about what you want, everything else will fall into place,'" he said in the film. Not only did Matlin begin to heal, but she also found true love. In 1993, she married Kevin Grandalski, a police officer, at Winkler's home. "You just knew," said Winkler in the film about the romance. "This is different. This is where a home is made. [And] there was no other thing to do, there was no other place for her to get married, except in our yard, in her home away from home." Winkler first saw a 12-year-old Matlin on stage in a Chicago variety show. In the documentary, Winkler recalled how Matlin's mother took him aside and asked if he could warn her daughter from pursuing an acting career because it would be too difficult for her. Winkler replied, "You got the wrong guy." Winkler became a friend and mentor to the then-aspiring actress. Their friendship has lasted for decades. "He provided a place for me to feel safe," she said. "I could always depend on the fact that he was a person who believed in me, genuinely, believed, and helped build my own self-confidence and trust the fact that he allowed me to be open and see the world more clearly. I'm so fortunate… that I was one of the people that he really cares about, truly cares about, genuinely cares about." "He was probably one of the most famous people in the world at times," Matlin beamed. "He was more famous than the President, in my opinion, and one of the most beloved people in the world. So, who would've ever thought that he would take the time and give attention to someone like me, the little girl that I was when he met me, the little deaf girl when he didn't even know American sign language?" "He didn't know anything about being deaf, about deaf culture," Matlin continued. "But you know what? It didn't matter to him. He acknowledged, of course, yes, that I communicated. He didn't ignore the fact that I was deaf, but at the same time, he treated me with love and respect, as anyone should to anyone. And I grabbed that moment when we first met, knowing that he was the real deal." Winkler, 79, said in a statement sent to Fox News Digital, "When we first saw her at age 12, it was evident how powerful and talented she was. She will always be part of our lives." Matlin is the youngest and first deaf best actress Academy Award winner. Her memoir, "I'll Scream Later," was published in 2009. In it, the actress said she was molested as a child and alleged abuse from Hurt during their relationship. "I didn't know that you could ask for help," Matlin told Fox News Digital. "I didn't know that while screaming for help, I didn't know that I could go out and seek out help, as opposed to while it was happening… hoping that somebody would come. But no one did while I was screaming. No one did… I don't want to dwell on that, but that's what happened." Following the book's publication, Hurt issued a statement to Access that read, "My own recollection is that we both apologized, and both did a great deal to heal our lives. 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." The documentary's director, Shoshannah Stern, who is also deaf, told Fox News Digital through an interpreter that she admired Matlin's bravery in speaking before the #MeToo movement. "Everyone had so much doubt," said Stern. "And then asking Marlee, 'Why didn't you leave?' 'Why did you stay in that relationship?' I just felt that they just re-traumatized her… The questions that they asked made it worse, asking, 'Did you think that those events happened to you because you were deaf?' And Marlee continuing to say, 'I didn't know.'… And people just overlooking that comment over and over, not understanding what she meant and her strength." "She didn't know that abuse was abuse at the time," said Stern. "And that's what happens to so many deaf people in the world." The work continues for Matlin, along with telling her story. "I was determined to prove [my critics wrong]," Matlin told Fox News Digital about pursuing a Hollywood career. "It just made me want to roll up my sleeves, even more, to prove to them that I'm a deaf woman who loves acting as much as anybody else… I didn't get into this business for nothing. It was a dream come true. So why shouldn't I be able to do another film?" "But if it happened today, I would've made a lot of noise back then," Matlin reflected. "I didn't know how to speak out against those who… wanted to put me in a negative light… As a result of all those criticisms, I had to grow up so quickly. "I was 19 years old when I got into ['Children of a Lesser God'], I turned 20 during the making of the film, and I had a much older boyfriend. It was my first film, and I was trying to get sober, and everything was coming at once. And they were more interested in pulling me down than all the other things that I was going through." "Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore" premieres June 20.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Yahoo
What Happened to Kelsey Grammer's Sister, Karen? What to Know About Her Gruesome 1975 Murder
It's been five decades since Kelsey Grammer's sister was brutally murdered. On July 8, 1975, Grammer, who was 20 years old at the time, was at home with his family in Pompano Beach, Fla., when he received a knock on the door that would change his life forever. Detectives told the actor that they had discovered the body of a Jane Doe in Colorado Springs, Colo., whom they believed to be his younger sister, Karen Grammer. The next day, Grammer flew to Colorado, where he confirmed their suspicions and learned that Karen had been killed one week earlier — just two weeks shy of her 19th birthday. On May 6, Grammer is releasing a book titled Karen: A Brother Remembers, looking back on the brutal killing of his sister and how it continued to impact him years later. 'For a long time, the grief was so dominant that I couldn't access happiness,' the Frasier star told PEOPLE ahead of its release. "The book helped me get to a new place with that.' So what happened to Kelsey Grammer's sister? Here's everything to know about the 1975 murder of Karen Grammer — including where her killers are today. After a semester of college in Georgia, Karen had relocated to Colorado Springs to be with her boyfriend. She last spoke to Grammer on June 30, 1975, when they discussed her plans to come home to Florida after the Fourth of July. The day after their call, however, she died. When Grammer didn't hear from his sister, he got suspicious and called the police. He later learned that at 11 p.m., just hours after their conversation, she went to Red Lobster, where she worked, to wait for a friend to finish their shift. According to Grammer's recount of the police report, three men arrived at Red Lobster with plans to rob the restaurant. Upon seeing Karen, they pulled out a gun and told her to come with them. She was taken to one of the men, Freddie Glenn's, car and left with him, while the two others went into the Red Lobster, which they ultimately decided against robbing. When they returned to Glenn's car, Karen was tied up next to him. The men drove her to one of their apartments, where they took turns raping her. Then, they drove Karen to an alley, where Glenn stabbed her to death 42 times. In the years after learning of his sister's brutal murder, Grammer, whose dad, Allen, had also been killed several years prior, grappled with how to cope with his overwhelming grief. "There were some times I pretty much surrendered to despair," Grammer told PEOPLE in November 2022. In his new book, the actor opens up about his past struggles with alcohol and substance abuse. Between 1988 and 1996, he faced multiple charges for drunk driving and cocaine possession, ultimately going to rehab at the Betty Ford Center. 'I always had something in the back of my head saying, 'Okay. That's enough now. Cut it out. You know why you're doing this,' " Grammer told PEOPLE ahead of the book's release. "But there was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, 'Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.' " Despite his internal struggles, Grammer continued to wake up and go to work, starring in the NBC sitcom Cheers and later leading his own hit spinoff, Frasier. "It seemed to make it more damning in a way, but you know what? I had to do it, so I'm okay," he said. "I learned that I really am a 'I don't quit' kind of guy. I can look at the past and see, 'Oh, well, you still did what you had to do.' " Glenn was convicted of murdering Karen, along with two accomplices, including Michael Corbett. Glenn was also tried in separate trials for murdering two other men — Daniel Van Lone and Winfred Proffitt — in June 1975, per The Denver Post. According to CBS News, Glenn killed Lone, a motel cook who was 28 years old at the time, during a botched robbery on June 19, 1975. Just a week later, he killed Proffitt, an Army soldier who was 19 years old, during a drug deal, per the outlet. Although he was originally given the death penalty, his sentence was changed in 1978 to life in prison with the possibility of parole, per CBS News. Glenn is continuing to serve a life sentence in prison for Karen's and the other men's murders, and has been denied parole four times. During his first parole request in July 2009, Glenn apologized to the families of the victims, saying, "I am sincerely and truly remorseful," per The Denver Post. With his next hearing set for 2027, Grammer told PEOPLE that Glenn's excuses are "bulls---.' "His protestations these days are like, 'Well, I don't remember raping her,' " he said. Though Grammer has found a degree of forgiveness, he is still committed to holding Glenn accountable for his actions. He told PEOPLE that revisiting the details of his sister's murder for his book was "not pleasant or comforting," but ultimately provided "ammunition to keep Freddie Glenn in jail." 'You don't want to eat yourself to pieces because you can't forgive somebody,' he said. 'But it's hard to forgive a person who consciously decided they wanted to murder somebody you love. This wasn't just some temperance issue with him. It was deliberate." "I can give you forgiveness, but you're not going to get out of paying for it," Grammer continued. As for the other convicted killers, Corbett died in prison in 2019. The third accomplice is unknown. Read the original article on People
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kelsey Grammer Details Using Alcohol and Cocaine to Cope with His Sister's Murder (Exclusive)
In a new book and in this week's issue of PEOPLE, Kelsey Grammer discusses how he struggled with alcohol and substance abuse in wake of his sister Karen's brutal rape and murder in 1975 Grammer says he knew he should "cut it out" with his behavior, but part of him "wanted to surrender" and "let it hurt" Grammer's father Allen was also murdered in 1968, and he lost his paternal brothers in a suspected shark attack Kelsey Grammer is opening up about the deep and lasting toll his sister Karen's murder took on his life. In the years after he learned that Karen had been brutally raped and stabbed to death at age 18 in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 1975, the actor wrestled with his family's traumatic history (their father Allen had also been murdered seven years prior) and the guilt that he couldn't do more to save his sister. In his new book, Karen: A Brother Remembers, out May 6, Grammer reveals that he struggled with alcohol and substance abuse, and between 1988 and 1996, he was charged with drunk driving and cocaine possession multiple times. He went to rehab at the Betty Ford Center. 'I always had something in the back of my head saying, 'Okay. That's enough now. Cut it out. You know why you're doing this,'" Grammer, now 70, tells PEOPLE of his addiction in this week's issue. "But there was the other part of me that wanted to surrender to it and go, 'Let it mess you up a little bit. Let it hurt.'" Related: Kelsey Grammer Reflects on the 'Terrible Loss' and Guilt After His Sister's 1975 MurderEven at the height of his struggles, Grammer forced himself to "get back up in the morning and go to work" playing fussy psychiatrist Dr. Frasier Crane, first on the NBC sitcom Cheers from 1984 to 1993 and then on his own spinoff Frasier from 1993 to 2004. "It seemed to make it more damning in a way, but you know what? I had to do it, so I'm okay," he says. "I learned that I really am a 'I don't quit' kind of guy. I can look at the past and see, 'Oh, well, you still did what you had to do.'" In his new book, Grammer delves into the horrific details of his sister's murder in an effort to "help people" with their own grief journeys. "For a long time, the grief was so dominant that I couldn't access happiness,' he says. 'The book helped me get to a new place with that.' It also provided a way for Grammer to make his sister known for more than just the worst thing that happened to her. He paints a picture of Karen as a free-spirited and loving woman who made the most of every moment, whose life was so much more than the way it ended. is now available in the Apple App Store! Download it now for the most binge-worthy celeb content, exclusive video clips, astrology updates and more! 'I wanted to breathe life into her and welcome her into the world,' he says. 'We were Kelsey and Karen, brother and sister.' Related: The Murder of Kelsey Grammer's 18-Year-Old Sister in 1975 Still Haunts Him: 'It's Always with You' As children, Grammer and his sister weathered a lot together, beginning with their parents' divorce in 1957 when Kelsey was a toddler and Karen only a few months old. After the split, the siblings moved with their mom Sally, a dancer, from St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands to her parents' home in New Jersey, while their dad Allen, a music shop owner and publisher, stayed behind. Grammer and his sister didn't see their dad again until 1967. That same year, the siblings lost their beloved maternal grandfather, Gordon, to cancer. A year later, Allen was shot and killed at his home in St. Thomas by a taxi driver amid a wave of racial violence following the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. The killer was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and it's still not known exactly why Allen was targeted. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer , from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'He was 38 years old when he died, which didn't really hit me until I turned 38 and realized how young he had been," Grammer says. "That's just barely getting started.' Karen moved to Colorado Springs after a semester at college in Georgia to be with her boyfriend. Grammer last spoke to his sister on June 30, 1975, and she told him she planned to come home to Florida after the Fourth of July. Related: Kelsey Grammer to Publish Memoir About Late Sister Karen: 'Our Love Is Forever' (Exclusive) When he didn't hear from her again, Grammer called the local police. He later found out that just hours after he and Karen had chatted, she went to the Red Lobster where she worked at around 11 p.m. to wait for a friend to finish their shift. A man named Freddie Glenn and two others had planned to rob the Red Lobster, but when they pulled up behind the restaurant, they spotted Karen. With a gun drawn, they told her to come with them. Karen was taken to Glenn's car and was left with him as the other men entered the restaurant and ultimately decided against the robbery. When they returned, they found Karen tied up next to Glenn. They drove her to one of the men's apartments, where they took turns raping her. The men drove Karen to an alley, where Glenn stabbed her 42 times and nearly decapitated her. Glenn was convicted of Karen's murder and several others in the area. Related: Kelsey Grammer's 7 Kids: Everything to Know Tragedy struck the family yet again five years later, when Grammer's paternal half-brothers, twins Billy and Stephen, were killed in a suspected shark attack while scuba diving in the Virgin Islands. Billy's body was never recovered, and Stephen was found washed up on shore after aspirating into his regulator. "There's a legacy of early death in my family, which is really interesting,' says Grammer, now a dad of seven. 'I pray to [disrupt] that cycle and give longevity to my family.' Karen: A Brother Remembers fittingly ends with Grammer's pilgrimage to Colorado Springs to retrace Karen's last steps. 'I had to complete my farewell to her. I had to be there and hold her in the end,' he says. 'It became important to get the closure. I hate clichéd words like closure, but I got the opportunity to say all the things I never said.' And when Grammer finished writing, his wife of 14 years, Kayte Walsh, was the first person he told. "She said, 'Well, I've missed you,'' he recalls, tears welling up in his eyes. 'I had to go away for a while — there were hours on end that I would just be staring off. But she was patient and loving through it. I had definitely lost a lot of the joy, and this brought it back for me.' Karen: A Brother Remembers comes out May 6 and is available for preorder now, wherever books are sold. Read the original article on People
Daily Mail
02-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Kelsey Grammer reveals shocking cocaine and booze spiral following sister's grisly murder
Kelsey Grammer is pulling back the curtain on a lifelong battle with grief, addiction, and guilt in his new memoir Karen: A Brother Remembers, which confronts the brutal 1975 murder of his younger sister Karen. The Frasier actor, now 70, reveals that Karen's horrific death — she was raped and fatally stabbed just weeks before her 19th birthday — shattered his world and fueled a years-long descent into drug and alcohol abuse. Adding to the trauma was Grammer's family history of violence: his father, Allen, had been shot and killed seven years earlier. Grammer - who previously said that he 'forgives' his sister's murderer - admits he tried to escape the pain, but it only dragged him further into addiction. Between the late '80s and mid-'90s, Grammer faced multiple arrests for DUIs and cocaine possession before finally checking into the Betty Ford Center. 'There was always this voice in my head saying, "Enough. You know why you're doing this,"' he told People on Friday. 'But another part of me wanted to let go completely — to let the pain take over.' The Frasier actor, now 70, reveals that Karen's horrific death — she was raped and fatally stabbed just weeks before her 19th birthday — shattered his world and fueled a years-long descent into drug and alcohol abuse Through it all, Grammer never let his personal struggles derail his career. While battling his demons behind the scenes, he kept delivering laughs as Dr. Frasier Crane — first on Cheers (1984–1993) and then leading his own smash hit, Frasier (1993–2004). 'It seemed to make it more damning in a way, but you know what? I had to do it, so I'm okay,' he said to the outlet. 'I learned that I really am a 'I don't quit' kind of guy. I can look at the past and see, "Oh, well, you still did what you had to do."' For years, however, Grammer said, happiness was out of reach. 'For a long time, the grief was so dominant that I couldn't access happiness,' he said. 'The book helped me get to a new place with that.' In Karen: A Brother Remembers, Grammer recounts the harrowing details of his sister's murder in hopes of helping others navigate their own grief. Grammer begins the book by reflecting on his and Karen's difficult childhood, according to excerpts from People. The siblings were just kids when their parents divorced in 1957. At a parole hearing in 2009, Grammer wrote a letter to the court which read, 'She was my best friend and the best person I knew. She had so much to live for. I loved my sister, Karen. I miss her. I miss her in my bones'; seen in 2022 in NYC Kelsey, a toddler at the time, and Karen, only a few months old, moved with their mother Sally from St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands to New Jersey. Their father, Allen, remained in St. Thomas. The siblings wouldn't see him again until 1967. The family endured more loss when their grandfather Gordon passed away in 1967. Then, in 1968, their father was shot and killed by a taxi driver during a wave of racial violence in St. Thomas. The motive behind the killing was never fully understood, and the shooter was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. Karen moved to Colorado Springs in 1975 to be with her boyfriend after a semester in Georgia. Their last conversation was on June 30th, when she told Kelsey she planned to come home after the Fourth of July. When he didn't hear from her again, Kelsey contacted the police. It was soon discovered that Karen had gone to her job at Red Lobster that night to wait for a friend. There, she was kidnapped by Freddie Glenn and two accomplices who had planned to rob the restaurant. When they saw Karen alone, they forced her into their car. After abandoning the robbery, the men drove her to an apartment, where they assaulted her. Glenn then drove Karen to an alley, where he fatally stabbed her 42 times. Glenn was later convicted of her murder and several other killings. The tragedies continued for Grammer. In 1980, his half-brothers Billy and Stephen were killed in what's believed to have been a shark attack while scuba diving in the Virgin Islands. Billy's body was never recovered, while Stephen's was found washed ashore. In his memoir, Grammer talks about the legacy of loss in his family. 'There's a legacy of early death in my family, which is really interesting,' he wrote, per People. 'I pray to break that cycle and give my family longevity.' Grammer shared the completed book with his wife, Kayte Walsh, who was supportive throughout the process. 'She said, "I've missed you,"' he recalled to People. 'I had to step away for a while — there were hours on end when I would just be staring off. 'But she was patient and loving through it. Writing this brought back some of the joy I had lost.'
