Kevin Spacey compares Covid-19 layoffs to losing his own acting career over sex assault allegations
Actor Kevin Spacey has said he can relate with people who have lost their jobs amid the coronavirus pandemic, citing being dropped from 'House of Cards following a barrage of sex-assault allegations.
The 60-year-old Hollywood veteran recently appeared on the 'Bits & Pretzels' podcast for an interview. “I don’t often like to tell people that I can relate to their situation because I think it undermines the experience that they may be having, which is their own unique and very personal experience,” he said, according to Page Six.
“But in this instance, I feel as though I can relate to what it feels like to have your world suddenly stop,” he continued. “And so while we may have found ourselves in similar situations, albeit for very different reasons and circumstances, I still believe that some of the emotional struggles are very much the same.”
“And so I do have empathy for what it feels like to suddenly be told that you can’t go back to work or that you might lose your job and that it’s a situation that you have absolutely no control over," the 'American Beauty' star added. “When my career came to a grinding, screeching halt, when I was faced with the uncertainty that I might never be hired as an actor again, I had to ask myself a question I’d never asked myself before which is, if I can’t act, who am I?”
Spacey also recounted his "painful" journey, describing how his life changed “in just a matter of hours” after the accusations surfaced.
“I don’t think it will come as a surprise for anyone to say that my world completely changed in the fall of 2017,” he said. “My job, many of my relationships, my standing in my own industry were all gone in just a matter of hours."
Sexual assault charges against the Oscar winner involving an 18-year-old man were dropped in Massachusetts last July. Then, in October, the 'Usual Suspects' star settled a sexual assault lawsuit filed against him by a massage therapist, who died earlier in 2019.
The terms of the settlement with the son of the accuser, as well as his identity, were not revealed for legal reasons.
The masseuse alleged in his lawsuit -- which he filed as a John Doe -- that Spacey sexually attacked him during a massage session in Malibu more than three years ago. According to him, Spacey allegedly attempted to fondle the accuser's genitals and even tried to kiss him.
Another accuser of Spacey's was Ari Behn, the former husband of Norway's Princess Martha Louise. Behn, who alleged that the actor groped him under a table in 2007, committed suicide on Christmas Day.
“I was so busy defining myself by what I did or what I was trying to do, that when it all stopped, I had no idea what to do next," the 'L.A. Confidential' star said at the end of the podcast.
“I don’t want to sugarcoat this devastating time that we’re in, I am hoping that I can encourage you to see an opportunity in all of this and turn this into a positive,” he added.