THE COMEBACK KID: Hollywood had 'blacklisted' Brendan Fraser, now star is back with a bang AND an Oscar
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: It was a great Sunday night, March 12, for Brendan Fraser, who won his first-ever Oscar. The star's ‘The Whale’ role fetched him the Best Actor in a Leading Role award at the LA event. His win has been hailed widely, but there was a time when Fraser was completely out of the limelight.
The 54-year-old was a heartthrob in the late 90s and early 00s but then he disappeared. As per reports, it was not ‘The Mummy’ actor’s decision to shun the industry. He accused the entertainment industry of ostracizing him after he spoke of the sexual abuse against him. The star had alleged in the past that Philip Berk, ex-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (HFPA), behaved inappropriately with him in 2003.
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‘I felt ill’
Fraser went into painful detail about the alleged incident in an interview five years ago. “His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around. I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry. I felt like someone had thrown invisible paint on me,” he told GQ in 2018.
Fraser also shared at the time that the alleged incident “made me retreat. It made me feel reclusive,” before adding, “I don't know if this curried disfavor with the group, with the HFPA. But the silence was deafening.” However, Berk denied the ‘Bedazzled’ actor’s claims and asserted, “His career declined through no fault of ours.”
Apart from this, Fraser reportedly faced personal setbacks as well. He suffered from health issues, a divorce from his former wife Afton Smith, and his mother Carol Fraser died. But with the recent victory, his star seems to be on the rise again. In his acceptance speech, the father-of-three said, “I’m grateful to Darren Aronofsky for throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard the good ship ‘The Whale’.”
‘It is my honor to be named’
“That was written by Samuel D Hunter who is our lighthouse. Gentleman, you laid your whale-sized hearts bare so that we could see into your souls like no one else could do. It is my honor to be named alongside you in this category. I want to tell you that only whales can swim at the depth of talent of Hong Chau [fellow nominee],” he noted.
Fraser added, “I started in this business 30 years ago, things didn’t come easy to me but there was a facility that I didn’t appreciate at the time, until it stopped. I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgment. It couldn’t be done without my cast. It’s been like I’ve been on a diving expedition and the air on the line to the surface is being watched over by some people in my life like my sons.”