Jurors were told by the prosecution that Ryder had gone to the store equipped to shoplift, with scissors to cut off the tags and a large bag to hide the goods inside. “You will begin to watch that shopping bag grow and grow,” Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle told them, as she assured everyone that the entire episode added up to a simple case of theft, “Nothing more, nothing less.”
Much of the trial was taken up by going over the “shoplifting” story again and again, with cross-examination adding some elements to the tale while correcting others. Disgruntled ex-employees were called to the stand; lawyers were chastised for making unnecessary remarks about the truth of testimony; and so it went on and on. Everything was discussed from the dressing room the actress had specifically requested; to the number of security tags found in the store; to the revelation that while Ryder had bought various items by credit card, she had apparently never asked the sales assistant to keep her account open. It all became a little like Groundhog Day, and as Winona sat in the courtroom, the frustration on her face was clear to see as she made detailed notes and shook her head on numerous occasions.
Finally, in early November 2002, Winona Ryder was convicted of felony grand theft and vandalism, though she was acquitted on the burglary charge. The actress showed great shock during the verdict but remained quiet, though she just about managed to find a few words outside the court for waiting newspaper reporters. “I’m sorry,” she said. “Thanks for asking [but] I just can’t talk right now.”
Deputy District Attorney Ann Rundle found more to say, however, when she left the court and was besieged by the press. “We are simply asking for Ms Ryder to take responsibility for her conduct, and that’s what this trial has been about,” she said. She added that she planned to ask the judge to place the actress on probation, pay the department store for the items and take part in community service.
Jumping to Ryder’s defence was her publicist Mara Buxbaum, who told reporters, “Winona is grateful to her family, friends and those who have supported her. She was preparing for the worst and hoping for the best.”
When it was time for sentencing, the actress arrived in the court dressed soberly in black, and sat in a chair, awaiting the judge’s decision. However, things threatened to become heated when her lawyer told the court of the reward she had put up for the safe return of a missing schoolgirl some years before. Ann Rundle took great offence to this story being brought up and attacked the actress during her speech.
“For someone to trot out the body of a dead child and in some way say because she supported—”
Rundle was unable to finish the sentence when Winona’s counsel angrily interrupted the attack and Ryder herself jumped to her feet, her mouth wide open in utter shock and disbelief.
After the outburst, Superior Court Judge Elden S. Fox passed down 480 hours of community service, three years’ probation and mental health counselling, before lecturing Winona Ryder about her conduct.
“You have disappointed many people inspired and entertained by your talents,” he said, before then going on to tell the actress that he felt she had refused to accept any personal responsibility for what happened in the store, and that while he had no intention of making an example of her, he most certainly wanted to hold her accountable for her actions. “If you steal again you will go to jail,” he warned.
Outside the court, a disgruntled Ann Rundle told reporters that she believed the only remaining issue was “whether or not Miss Ryder will stop pointing fingers at others and start examining her own behaviour”. Meanwhile, defence lawyer Mark Geragos commented on the outcome by saying that he believed the sentencing was reasonable, “given what the convictions were”.
Once the trial was over, Winona Ryder tried desperately to get on with her life in a quiet manner. She did the community service, dealt with her issues concerning painkillers and made a conscious decision to take time off from her film career. She moved to San Francisco to be near her parents, who had been a great support during the trial.
While many people (and possibly even Ryder herself) believed her career to be over, once the scandal had died down the actress went on to play a variety of parts in films such as The Private Lives of Pippa Lee (2009) and Star Trek (2009). Her career was back on track, but her biggest comeback was yet to come, when she played the small but important role of Beth in the 2010 film, Black Swan. Winona acted as a former prima-ballerina whose career is coming to an end, much to her horror, and while the part may have been small, it succeeding in winning her new fans and a great deal of critical acclaim.
As for the shoplifting scandal, Winona Ryder remained tight-lipped about it until 2007, when she eventually opened up ever so slightly in an interview with Vogue magazine. In the piece she stated that she didn’t feel a tremendous sense of guilt over the episode, because her actions had not hurt anybody. If she had, she admitted, “It would have been an entirely different experience.”
53
The Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie Love Triangle
There have been many love triangles during the history of time; probably the most famous being the one between Princess Diana, Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles. This particular triangle spawned the phrase “There were three people in this marriage; so it was a bit crowded,” which has been used time and time again ever since. However, our next scandal spawned the phrases “Team Jolie” and “Team Aniston”, and would encourage discussions and debate around the water-cooler for many years to come.
As Rachel Green in the hit show Friends, Jennifer Aniston was the darling of television when she met Brad Pitt, the star of Se7en (1995) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). The two started dating in 1998 and quickly became the talk of the world, especially when they decided to marry in July 2000 in a private Malibu ceremony. The ecstatic couple spurned lucrative offers from magazines, and instead released a black-and-white photo of themselves in aid of charity. The couple were photographed looking happy on their big day, with Jen wearing a white dress, veil and her hair hanging loose, while Brad dressed in a smart suit and tie.
Mr and Mrs Pitt were the perfect Hollywood couple and even appeared in an episode of Friends together, which saw them going head-to-head in a showdown over old high-school grievances including Pitt’s “I hate Rachel” club and made-up rumours of Rachel being an hermaphrodite cheerleader from Long Island. The episode was a huge hit with fans and cemented their status as one of the happiest couples in show business.
Unfortunately, their marriage seemed to come to an abrupt halt after Pitt was contracted to work with Angelina Jolie on the film Mr & Mrs Smith (2005). The two actors fell for each other, and while both still deny having a full fling on set, there can be no doubt that there was a huge attraction there. Of course, stories from the set were quick to leak out into “real life” and rumours swirled around for quite some time about whether or not Pitt was going to leave his wife. The curious public didn’t have to wait long, however, as while the two tried to hold things together for a time, it soon became clear that the marriage was just not working and their separation was announced on 6 January 2005.
Very quickly stories started to circulate that Pitt was in love with Angelina Jolie and the whole world seemed to be on either Team Jolie or Team Aniston; there was simply no room for being “on the fence”. To some, Angelina was seen as the brazen woman in the middle, the home-wrecker who had torn the couple apart. In reality, however, while the relationship with Jolie was certainly a symptom that something was wrong in the Aniston/Pitt partnership, she doesn’t seem to have been the cause of the split. Instead, there may have been problems for some time before she came on the scene, with Pitt’s friends declaring that it was actually Aniston’s apprehension about having children that had caused the break-up. For her part, Jennifer herself later claimed that there was a “sensitivity chip” missing from her estranged husband.
The pair eventually divorced on 2 October 2005 and Jennifer went on to make The Break-up with ac
tor Vince Vaughn. The film centred on a couple who were – as the title indicates – breaking up. Producers were loath to offer Jennifer the part, knowing what she had just been through, but she pressed ahead anyway. “What a great way to exorcise [the divorce]” she later declared.
During the filming, Jennifer developed a close friendship and rumoured romance with co-star Vince Vaughn, while Pitt was finally free to enter into an intense relationship with Angelina Jolie. Jolie had previously adopted a son, Maddox, and was in the process of adopting a daughter, Zahara, at the time, and very quietly Pitt went on to adopt the children, too. Then although the pair continued to remain silent about their relationship, it soon became impossible to deny they were anything but good friends when in May 2006, Jolie gave birth to their first biological child, a daughter they called Shiloh.
By now any hopes of Jennifer Aniston and Brad Pitt reconciling were firmly out of the window, but the media were still obsessed with what the two thought of each other, and why the marriage had gone disastrously wrong. For their part, the couple have always remained largely tight-lipped about each other, and still claim to be on a relatively friendly basis. So cordial, in fact, that rumours have developed over the years of secret meetings, letters and phone calls – none of which have ever been proved, although in the February 2009 issue of W Magazine, Pitt did admit that the two check in with each other occasionally. “She was a big part of my life, and me hers,” he said.
After the initial adoption of Maddox and Zahara, and then the later birth of Shiloh, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie went on to have three more children: Pax was adopted in 2007 and then biological twins Knox and Vivienne were born in 2008. No children have appeared since then, though the couple have not ruled out the possibility. Pitt relayed his feelings on fatherhood at the Venice Film Festival by describing it as the most fun and the “biggest pain in the ass” that he had ever experienced in his life. “I love it and can’t recommend it highly enough,” he told reporters shortly before the arrival of his last two children.
Both Jolie and Pitt have admitted that their children are desperate for them to marry, and in the summer of 2012 it was rumoured that they were about to tie the knot in a French chateau. That never happened – or if it did, it remains the best-kept secret in show business. Then in December of the same year it was once again claimed that they had secretly married over the Christmas period. But in the face of rumours and hearsay, as of March 2013 the two remain happily unmarried, although some sources predict they won’t remain that way for long.
As for Jennifer Aniston, she has enjoyed a great deal of film success with hits such as the real-life story of Marley and Me, in which she played a wife juggling three children and a disobedient canine. She may soon be able to play this role in her personal life, too, as in August 2012 it was announced that she was engaged to actor Justin Theroux, who she had been dating for the past year. Aniston has said she is extremely happy with her new fiancé and is very much looking forward to the future. It is not yet known when the wedding will take place, but you can be sure that if it is anywhere near the time when her former husband gets married, the comparisons will be set to run and run.
54
The Tragic Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith
The life of Anna Nicole Smith reads like a Jackie Collins novel, but unlike a Collins novel, where the good characters usually have a chance of living happily ever after, the last years of Smith’s life led not only to mystery and scandal, but to tragedy too.
Born Vickie Lynn Hogan on 28 November 1967, Anna Nicole Smith had a tumultuous relationship with her mother and for the most part was raised by her aunt in Mexia, Texas. By the time she was seventeen the young girl was married to Billy Wayne Smith, and gave birth to their son, Daniel Wayne, just nine months later on 22 January 1986. The marriage didn’t work out, however; Anna had ambitions to be famous and just a year after Daniel’s birth she packed her bags and moved to Houston in a bid to make her dreams come true.
In 1991, while working in a strip club, Anna met eighty-six year-old oil tycoon J. Howard Marshall and the two embarked on a highly scandalous relationship, much to the obvious dismay of his worried family. Marshall was richer than any man Anna had ever known, and though she tried to reassure everyone that her intentions were honourable, it came as no surprise when she was labelled a gold-digger who was dating Marshall not for love but for what he could buy her.
While we will never know the true feelings between the couple, another older man entered Anna’s life during this time. She was discovered by Hugh Heffner, who placed her on the cover of the March 1992 issue of his magazine, Playboy. The cover was a success; Anna was a huge hit with readers; and in 1993 she was voted Playmate of the Year. Lots of publicity followed and Smith, a huge Marilyn Monroe fan, decided she was going to be just like her, revelling in dressing up in a replica of the famous Seven Year Itch dress and channelling her inner Marilyn at photo shoots.
Many modelling jobs followed, including shoots for Guess Jeans and H & M, and she even won an appearance in 1994’s Naked Gun 33 and a third, playing Tanya Peters, the villain’s entertaining girlfriend. She gave a fun performance and won much praise, though the same cannot be said for her next “performance” on 27 June 1994 when the twenty-six-year-old Smith walked down the aisle to marry her by now eighty-nine-year-old boyfriend, J. Howard Marshall. They both raised eyebrows in the congregation by wearing matching white outfits, and guests could not help but notice that the groom was much less mobile than his bride, sitting in a wheelchair during the ceremony and then afterwards being wheeled up the aisle with his beaming bride walking in front.
The marriage caused a huge media uproar and J. Howard Marshall’s family were incensed, convinced that the young blonde was only after the ailing billionaire’s money. Their feelings seemed justified when it was discovered that, just hours after the marriage, Marshall was apparently left alone and in despair when Anna preferred to take off for Greece on a modelling assignment rather than spend time alone with him on their honeymoon.
Needless to say, her $50,000 monthly allowance did nothing to quell their fears, and to add to their worries, rumours surfaced that the model refused to live in the marital home, conducted extra-marital affairs and tormented her husband by exposing her naked breasts to others while in his presence. Of course, if any of this was true, Anna was not about to admit it and denied any wrongdoing during several interviews: “I know people think I married Howard for his money, but it’s not true. I love him,” she said. She also declared that she was actively looking after her husband while he was unwell, though her lawyer later revealed that at one point during the marriage, Smith was banned from seeing her husband for more than an hour a day on the orders of Marshall’s lawyers and doctors. The restrictions were finally lifted, though according to Smith’s lawyer, Diana Marshall, “They lost a lot of precious time they could have spent together.”
Eventually, on 4 August 1995, just thirteen months after the wedding, J. Howard Marshall passed away and his son, E. Pierce Marshall, took it upon himself to arrange a private family funeral on 13 August. Unfortunately for him, however, Anna did not agree to this arrangement and after talking it through with friends of her own, arranged a memorial to end all memorial services, in Houston on 7 August.
The grieving widow turned up wearing a low-cut white dress and veil, which some mistakenly took to be her own wedding dress from the year before. It wasn’t, but still, it looked in remarkably bad taste to wear such a plunging gown to the funeral of her dead husband. Added to that, Anna also carried her little black dog under her arm and was accompanied by her young son, also adorned in white.
The event turned out to be quite a spectacle and Smith tried to recite a eulogy but could only manage to say a few words before breaking down. Then several of Anna’s friends – who had only known Marshall very briefly – got up to speak about the couple’s love. Harps played; the minister read from the Bible; and – quite astonishingly – Smith and her
son Daniel then sang the Bette Midler song “Wind Beneath My Wings” before running dramatically from the room.
Not surprisingly, Marshall’s family was not in attendance and remained absolutely furious that the model had played such a significant part in their father’s life and his funeral. Almost immediately a battle commenced between Anna and Marshall’s son, Pierce, over who should be entitled to the oil man’s $1.6 billion estate, with both sides arguing that they were the ones entitled to the money. Whole books could be written about the much ballyhooed case, with decisions and appeals going back and forth between the two parties for so long that in 2011 the case was still rattling on – years after the death of both Anna Nicole and E. Pierce Marshall.
In 1996, Smith hit the headlines once again when she was forced to file for bankruptcy after an employee sued her for sexual harassment. She later told Extra what she was going through at the time, saying that she was totally overwhelmed due to the number of people who seemed to be suing her and adding: “I’m this one little girl; I’m this one little person. And I’ve got 50 things thrown at me, and I’m like what did I ever do? I’ve never hurt anybody . . . I couldn’t handle it.” Anna became exceptionally depressed with the situation she was in, and took solace in prescription pills, food and alcohol.
Through the stress of the court case and her day-to-day life, Anna began to pile on weight and soon became addicted to the tablets she was continuously taking. Unfortunately this all backfired when she became so dependent on her medication that she had no knowledge of particular jobs she had done or people to whom she had spoken. Then one evening she accidentally overdosed and was rushed to hospital. She fell into a coma and, by the time she woke, she had developed pneumonia and was given a fifty-fifty chance of survival. It was hit or miss for some time, but somehow Anna managed to pull through, and later told reporters that she had needed to learn to walk and talk all over again. “It was bad,” she confessed. She also assured an interviewer on the Extra programme that she would never take pills again. When asked if she worried she’d ever go back to drugs, she replied, “Oh absolutely not. That will never happen again I promise. No!”
The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals Page 45