Gary Oldman’s poorly-considered Playboy interview is still causing controversy. He’s already apologized (a few times, since the first one was so weird) and tried to cry his way out of it. But Pandora’s Box has been opened. And now it’s almost like the tabloids have declared open season on Oldman. The National Enquirer/Radar has brought an incident from more than a decade ago – which I have a vague recollection of, so it’s not completely new information – in which Gary’s then-wife accused him of spousal abuse.
In a scary twist of events, it turns out that Gary Oldman and Mel Gibson are similar in more ways than one! The Batman star apparently feels sympathetic for Gibson because they both allegedly abused women, The National ENQUIRER reports. Oldman, 56, who defended the Braveheart star in the July/August issue of Playboy, allegedly got into a terrible fight with his then-wife in May 2001, and it ended with him hitting her with a phone and choking her, according to a police report obtained by The ENQUIRER.
Donya Fiorentino, the victim, told police that her husband called her a “whore” before attempting to leave their home with their kids. After trying to stop him from leaving, Fiorentino became frightened and called the police. While she was on the phone with a dispatcher, Oldman allegedly pulled the receiver out of her hand and punched her with it. His now ex-wife received a blow to the left side of her face.
“The suspect then grabbed the victim by the neck with unknown hand and began to choke the victim,” the police report states.
The marriage soon ended after the reported incident. Oldman would go on to marry his fourth wife, Alexandra Edenborough, in 2008.
Gibson also has been found in a domestic violence controversy, having pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor involving his former girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva. He received three years probation for the crime.
“These guys are two peas in a pod!” an insider told The ENQUIRER.
Oldman denied the attack, but apologized for his controversial remarks in the magazine saying he was “deeply remorseful.”
I seem to remember other stories about Gary’s allegedly violent tendencies – with men and women – in his early days as well. You can read some of the other accusations that Donya and Gary made against each other here. They were only married for a few years and it sounds like it was an utter mess of drugs, infidelity and yes, abuse. So… Gary’s defense of Mel Gibson sounds a bit more like Gary’s justifying his own past?
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I noticed they aren’t using him much for press for the movie. Good move.
That report is bizarre. You hit someone with an object, you don’t ‘punch’ them with it unless you intend to notch them, or punch a hole through them. Also, I’m sorry, but the “unknown hand” quote reminds me of “The Beast with Five Fingers”.
On a serious note, this wouldn’t be an absolute shock, if true, based on his recent ramblings.
It would certainly explain his sympathetic comments for Gibson. Birds of a feather, etc.
He’s been married four times. Maybe he should try something else because he doesn’t seem to be doing to well with marriage.
Just recently was reminded of the fact that he was married to Uma Thurman, when she was a teenager (and she might very well have been the “other woman” in his marriage before he got divorced). Escandaloso!
If it was true they would have tagged Sirius Black for it back then. People want this to be true because he said Jews run Hollywood. We do. Why we get upset about it when people acknowledge we’ve done good, I don’t know…
I think that it isn’t a bad thing that one ethnicity is prominent in a field and that there is mention of it. However, everything within context. When Gary Oldman brought up the Jews and said Gibson is a good guy, in the past, Gibson stated that Jews started all the wars. The connotation there is that the stronghold in Hollywood is a nefarious business. And that message was not in a vacuum. Gibson’s father was/is known as a Holocaust denier. “In an interview of his own with Peggy Noonan, Mel Gibson is reported as having said that “My dad taught me my faith, and I believe what he taught me. The man never lied to me in his life.”
Hutton Gibson: “They claimed that there were 6.2 million in Poland before the war, and they claimed after the war there were 200,000 – therefore he must have killed 6 million of them,” he said. “They simply got up and left! They were all over the Bronx and Brooklyn and Sydney, Australia, and Los Angeles.” He said the Germans did not have enough gas to cremate 6 million people and that the concentration camps were just “work camps….They’re after one world religion and one world government,” Hutton Gibson, 85, said in a radio interview that will air Monday night. “That’s why they’ve attacked the Catholic Church so strongly, to ultimately take control over it by their doctrine”
A little more at the link and on searches:
http://atheism.about.com/b/2004/02/21/mel-gibsons-father-holocaust-exaggerated.htm
Now, either Gary Oldman doesn’t know Gibson that well and what was said in the past, which would make his opinion of the ‘nice guy’ part naive. Or, he was well aware of the full context and feels the same disdain.
@Kiddo…Mel Gibson has publicly said several times that he affirms that 6 million Jews were killed in the Holocaust. Mel saying “my dad never lied to me” doesn’t mean he thinks everything Hutton says is the truth. Mel has said enough stuff worthy of criticism in its own right without bringing up old Hutton.
The connection between Gary Oldman and Mel Gibson is “Immortal Beloved,” the 1994 film starring Oldman as Beethoven that was produced by Gibson’s company.
Regarding Oldman’s comment about the Jews and Hollywood, the important difference between him and Gibson is that Oldman is a Hollywood outsider, while Gibson is Hollywood establishment (even if he’s been graylisted). Gibson’s long-time team includes/d some of the most respected people in town (Alan Nierob and the late Ed Limato). In contrast, Oldman’s manager is Doug Urbanski, who is a guest host for Rush Limbaugh. According to David Poland, after The Contender (2000) was edited to simplify his character, Oldman called Spielberg an anti-Semite (!!) and made other choice remarks. Oldman’s career stalled because he turned Spielberg into an enemy.
@Bear…The criticism of Oldman came from Abe Foxman, who is continuing his one-sided public feud with Mel Gibson.
The problem is that Oldman was probably speaking out of hostility. David Poland has some interesting dirt:
http://moviecitynews.com/2014/06/gary-oldmans-foot-in-mouth-disease/
“But when Oldman saw the re-cut, he claimed that his character had been politically simplified to the point of it being an offense. He claimed it became a caricature of a rightie instead of a nuanced portrait. And he went on the war path. (Others have indicated that his performance was not cut at all, making it rather confusing as to why he went ballistic.) As the story was told to me, he actually called Spielberg an anti-Semite and spat out some other rage connected to Spielberg’s religion. He also went right after the head of marketing at the studio, Terry Press, calling her—as I was told the story—a “f___ing midget c___.”
I still think there is an underlying issue related to Gibson’s rantings that go back to the environment in which he was raised. Saying that Jews started all the wars is in line with his father’s diatribe, even if it doesn’t replicate the father’s precise words, even if he said them while hammered, and even if he disavowed the father’s specific statements on the Holocaust. I was putting into context the history of the whole thing and that clearly this wasn’t about someone benignly pointing out, “Well, gee, there’s a lot of Jews in Hollywood”. It was much more darkly nuanced and a lot less innocent than that.
I don’t know whether Gibson loves/hates the people he was involved in producing films with. I can’t look into his heart, nor can I look into Oldman’s. But there is something there, some level of deep seeded animosity, that goes beyond, “I hate my boss”. They each made it about ethnicity. And if you are difficult, or a prick to people who have the control over hiring you, they will cut you out, no matter the ethnicity.
Based on your comment and recent events, Oldman is beginning to sound more and more like a common ignorant idiot than anything else. And Rush Limbaugh; not worth wasting further typing on.
@Kiddo…What Mel and his father share is an affinity for conspiracy theories. A belief in conspiracy theories can be an indicator of paranoia. Almost a mild mental illness. Conspiracy theories aren’t about friends and coworkers, but about “THEM,” be they Freemasons, the Illuminati, or international Jewish bankers. I think Mel’s problem isn’t just that he grew up hearing Dad’s conspiracy theories, but that he has a somewhat paranoid personality type (in addition to his obvious anger management issues).
I think Oldman’s problem is that he has put himself in an ideological echo chamber, which led to the lack of empathy he showed in that Playboy interview. Casually using racial slurs in an interview isn’t a brave stance against political correctness, but when you surround yourself with advisors like Urbanski…
@Sam, Good post. Nice chatting with you.
As far as I was aware he got full custody of the kids in the divorce, which is pretty unusual for a case involving dv.
ETA should have read down, I’m still pissed off with him for leaving the glorious Leslie Manville, although it would appear she dodged a bullet there.
If I remember correctly, their marriage was a mess. She had some serious drug and mental health issues. During their divorce it was incredibly messy and he proved to the courts that she was an unfit mother, so he got custody of the kids. She claimed he was abusive, he claimed she was erratic around the kids. So do I think he was abusive? Sure. I would never condone abuse on either side ever. I also think the environment of the home was very sick.
Yes, but based on this recent interview. He is a a**hole regardles of environment. I note he only apologies to 1 out of the 3 he insulted.
Yup no excuse.
This story was around for years and apparently she was so credible and there was so much evidence that she LOST CUSTODY of her children in the divorce. Lies about abuse when relationships are breaking up are an infuriating problem placing actual victims and innocent people at risk.
He was an inexcusable douchebag in the Playboy interview but pulling up this stuff just makes the reaction to him look hysterical and discredible and makes him look more sympathetic. Dumb.
You may be completely right. She certainly sounds like she had struggled with her addiction demons.
That being said, the Cali “justice” system is notoriously lenient and favorable towards celebrities. But if, as Oldman claimed, she was drunk or using around the children, then that right there is a reason to grant Oldman full custody. However, it doesn’t automatically mean that he didn’t do these things to her.
When divorces become this bitter, there’s a lot of he said/she said and mud-slinging going on.
I don’t know..I reserve the right to remain undecided on this one.
“Undecided” is one thing (and perfectly fair) but bringing up a story that has already concluded (and which in the eyes of the justice system had him in the right) contributes to what I think of as “boy who cried wolf” syndrome. It numbs to the actual, real problems because we get so used to media manipulation we don’t believe anything anymore.
There wasn’t any evidence he hit Donya, just her allegations. Gary Oldman is an abusive jerk but I believe him on this one. He got custody of his kids & not because of his money or celebrity status, it’s because she was & is a train wreck. She’s incredibly dysfunctional & I do doubt her here. I don’t think he hit her or physically abused her…but I do believe he called her a whore.
I think being an unfit mother, being a drug addict and being a victim of domestic violence can coincide with one another. They are not all mutually exclusive from one another. I have no idea whether her allegations were true or false. Because a case has concluded in the court system, it often means that one side maneuvered better than the other in the goal of winning. That said, I have nothing but disdain for people who make up abuse allegations. I’m not sure what the deal was in this case, and I suspect, we’ll never know. But one thing is certain, they both had issues when they met, so there’s a good chance that pathology ran through the relationship on both sides, and not only on one.
She could have been a drug addict to whom he was abusive you know. Her illness doesnt automatically exclude the other.
He wouldnt the first abuser who got away with his despicable actions after successfully playing the “shes a druggy” card. Especially if the abuse drives the addiction.
From where I stand the allegations may have been thrown out but they seem very credible now in light of what we know. 1) That Gary is a hateful bigot who in addition.to loathing people of other races is also misogynistic going by his interview 2) That Gary thinks nothing of defending a wife beater and 3) That Gary is a coward who will back away when confronted by
His ex-wife accused David Fincher, her husband before Oldman, of domestic abuse as well. Fincher got full custody of their daughter.
Oldman has been married for times. None of his ex-wives said he abused them.
This is a ridiculous response to his Playboy interview. Attack the argument, not the man himself.
@Kaya It’s no different than releasing a tape of Angelina Jolie from the 90’s(?). Gary Oldman made headlines, so the ragmag is trying capitalize on it for money. I really don’t think it’s about a cogent argument from any perspective. It’s about click baiting and selling magazines. And yeah, it worked, it piqued everyone’s interest.
I added a comment down thread about this, but I don’t think that we can use this case ruling as an indication that abuse didn’t in fact take place. If Donya were abusing drugs (or mentally unstable), that may have been the deciding factor in her losing custody of the children. I just want to make that point clear here.
Given, Gary’s track record and opinions, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were instances of DV during his relationship with Donya, but the public will never know for sure.
Yeah this is how I feel, too.
Judges very rarely award custody to someone who has a record of domestic violence. None of his other wives reported abuse & the fact he’s a bigot doesn’t make him automatically guilty here. There was no evidence he hit her, the allegations were unfounded….meaning police did not see any signs of physical abuse. This happened in 2001, not 1981 & after O.J. was acquitted. I bring it up because Nicole Brown Simpson repeatedly called the police on O.J. & there were photos of the injuries but it was never taken seriously by the LAPD…..There has not been any photos of Donya with bruises or black eyes. I dislike Gary Oldman & always have but on this, there is nothing to indicate he physically abused Donya. Just because he spews hatred & is emotionally abusive doesn’t mean he’s physically abusive. It doesn’t make him any better, he’s still a jerk. I dislike false allegations because it makes that much harder for domestic violence survivors. My point about her being a train wreck can also be used to back up his allegations she made up the story.
Oldman had his own struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse when married to Isabella Rosselini. Seems that he got clean though?
When was Isabella Rossellini married to Oldman? I only know about two marriages : with Scorsese and the father of her daughter Elettra. She also had a long time relationship with David Lynch.
Weren’t the wives prior to Fiorentino Uma Thurman and Lesley Manville?
Your claim about a pairing of Oldman and Rossellini is novelty to me.
Do you have any link about this?
Manta/TOK: Oldman and Rossellini were in a long term relationship, but they never married.
Donya was also David Fincher’s wife before to meet Gary Oldman in rehab .She also accused him to abuse her during their divorce fastly after the birth of their daughter and you know what? She lost her daughter’s custody and David Fincher raised ( with the help of his partner/ producer) her alone
Yup, Fincher seems to be good guy (at least there’s no ridiculous playboy interviews and I never heard of him beeing an abusive a$$hole to another woman) so I don’t buy her story….
But I do buy her allegations that he was cheating on her with Madonna lol
@Ivy, she accused him of that?! It wouldn’t surprise me. I want all of the Fincher tea, tbh.
@Lydia yes she did (I used to be OBSESSED with Fincher, I think I’ve read everything about him… I’m a bit scary xD ), it was when they were married, she accused Madonna of calling her husband at any time and to hang up when she was answering the phone…
Donya accused Fincher of being unfaithful and he (and Gary Oldman) accused her of “pregnancy entrapment” or something… The whole story is just a gigantic mess ^.^’
@Ivy. Interesting, thanks. I often wonder what the real deal was between him and Rooney Mara. She obviously worshiped him but I wonder if they actually went there, you know?
@Ivy. Also, I want to read all the salacious gossip, too! Haha. Do you remember where you read that stuff?
@Lydia I wonder about the Rooney Mara stuff too… At first I thought it was just gossip. I thought they had the perfect working relationship with Mara worshiping him, and Fincher being his usual control freak. But then he started walking the red carpet with Cean Chaffin…
You know it took me YEARS to find a picture of her (and I never found one with the two of them), and suddendly here there are, hand in hand at award ceremonies? (I know, I know, I’m a maniac). It screams “shady” to me!
I try to find you links to those stories, but so far, no luck with the Madonna story…
@Ivy Yeah, it was pretty strange how Cean just suddenly started appearing at things around the same time as Daniel Craig called the Rooney/Fincher relationship “f_cking weird” and rumors were running rampant. Maybe they have an open relationship or something. I thought it was a bit odd that Fincher’s kid’s volleyball bio has her mother as Cean and not Donya. See? I’m weirdly obsessed, too.
@Lydia OMG you make me feel better, I’m not the only crazy girl out there lol
I also thought of an open relationship (I think that’s what it was with Fiorentino), but then why bother and show up with his longtime partner? I’m not sure she was aware their relationship wasn’t exclusive…
I’m also obsessed with Donya’s Instagram, she’s posting old pics of Fincher & Oldman, although she doesn’t seem to have any relationship with any of them (or their kids)…
We may be strange, but in this story EVERYBODY is a f*cking weido xD
Lord Jesus… the Gary Oldman trainwreck just keeps rolling along…
Such a great actor but the more I read about him the less I like him.
Blessed be the Daniel day Lewis of this world who keep aloe profile and don’t give stupid interviews to playboy.
Clearly you haven’t read about DDL’s mess of a life before he was married. scandale!!!!
Exactly, things were a bit messy with Isabelle Adjani…
But still, DDL doesn’t insult half the world in his interviews!
The older glasses look better on Oldman.
I’ve read this before.
White actors get away with so much in Hollywood.
Sean Penn still gets to date golden girl Charlize & be a respected actor/director, Russel Crowe gets to play a prophet movie in a blockbuster…the list goes on.
Josh Brolin is still getting roles in good-great film projects. Charlie Sheen got his own show a few years ago.
@Maria-men get away with so much in H’wood.
I agree completely BUT Charlie Sheen, Sean Penn, Oldman, Polanski, Allen, Brolin still have successful careers…
This doesn’t happen with PoC with the exception of R Kelly who paid off his victims (they were also WoC).
There’s an undeniable double standard and it’s nauseating.
If people are still interested in you, you get away with a lot out there. Once the public interest is gone, then the studios are gone too.
Gary, you are no longer my Immortal Beloved!
contents aside, i feel like it’s like Old History Week here in the gossipworld, a lot of vintage news surfacing…
In 2001…you mean THIRTEEN years ago? Not to give the guy a pass, but where was this story then?
The story was out there in 2001
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-71209/Garys-bitter-divorce-battle.html
But a judge called her a liar and an unfit mother & it pretty much killed the story ^.^
Gary may be an a$$hole but his ex-wife was/is just crazy.
She OD-ed in front of her 6 years old daughter (who is David Fincher daughter). She made false allegations against both Fincher and Oldman and end up losing custody of all of her children.
She could have been a drug addict and an abuse victim at the same time.
She also accused David Fincher during their divorce and he had the complete custody of their daughter
She can also be a liar.
What we know for sure is that she made those allegations against both her ex-husbands and end up losing custody of all of her kids.
That doesn’t sound good to me…
I think the fact that Donya lost the children probably had more to do with her drug use than the abuse not actually happening. In fact, if Donya were abusing drugs (or mentally unstable) during her marriage with Gary, I would tend to believe that he were abusive towards her — especially given the fact that he seems to have a history of this with others. Donya would have been vulnerable in that relationship, hence an “easier” victim for him (in Gary’s eyes). In that she would seem like a less credible to outsiders due to her drug usage and/or mental instability.
Abusers are master manipulators after all.
What exactly is this “history” of abuse with others? I’ve never read anything about Gary Oldman being abusive or violent except Donya’s allegations. Up until Playboy, he was universally lauded as a sweet, quiet, funny guy, especially since he quit drinking.
This pitchforks-at-the-ready stuff really seems disproportionate to me… :/
@Londerland: I stand corrected. I read about it in an older thread here about him, but those claims were unsubstantiated.
However, I still stand by the rest of my statement.
For me personally, it has nothing to do with how I feel about Oldman, I just reserve judgment when it comes to doubting women’s claims of abuse–mainly because I know how historically, women have been silenced, threatened, or killed for coming forward. Not to mention the shame, judgment, and yes, outright dismissal or minimization of abuse claims.
That being said, I know very little about this story, which is why I’m remaining undecided.
Ultimately, my thoughts are with those poor kids.
This old guy is a pig. Not only is he a horrible person but an absolute Ahole for ruining some of my favourite movies.
Much as I was horrified with Gary Oldman’s Playboy interview comments, I’m also dismayed by this dredging from the past, and using it to further spur more venting against the actor. Bit of a witch hunt, perhaps? (No offense to Sirius Black.)
No judge would give custody of her kids to her ex husbands if there were solid evidence of abuse, as she claimed. Both Fincher and Oldman were accused and they are the ones who got custody. I think she is just a sick woman.
Gary Oldman WAS always a disgusting pig. Young people here adored him with blind eyes until now. But I give the benefict of the doubt in this. The woman is sick and a mess.
Just who are these naive young people? I’m 27 and I know Oldman from his creepster roles in Leon, Fifth Element, Air Force One and Dracula, since my preschool days. He’s always been the crazy psycho in my mind. When the hell did this Oldman the Saint image appear?
You need to read the previous posts -especially related to Playboy interview- People believed his saint image as a noble Sirius Black and were surprised by Oldman’s real self.
This guy has always given me the heeby jeebies. I don’t know what it is about him that gives off the skeeve vibe, but I trust my instincts. It does explain why he makes such a good villain in movies.
He looks like her father in the first photo.
LOL this is the deepest depth of tabloid “journalism”. More disgusting than anything he is accused of.