Posted on 01/14/2018 2:15:36 PM PST by SMGFan
Well I do not take responsibility AND I am sick to death of your whining and blaming.
When I was 12 years old, while filming “True Lies”, I was sexually molested by Joel Kramer, one of Hollywood’s leading stunt coordinators.
Ever since, I have struggled with how and when to disclose this, if ever. At the time, I shared what happened to me with my parents, two adult friends and one of my older brothers. No one seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I.
I am grateful to the women and men who have gone before me in recent months. The ever-growing list of sexual abuse and harassment victims who have spoken out with their truths have finally given me the ability to speak out. It has been indescribably exhausting, bottling this up inside me for all of these years.
I remember, so clearly 25 years later, how Joel Kramer made me feel special, how he methodically built my and my parents’ trust, for months grooming me; exactly how he lured me to his Miami hotel room with a promise to my parent that he would take me for a swim at the stunt crew’s hotel pool and for my first sushi meal thereafter. I remember vividly how he methodically drew the shades and turned down the lights; how he cranked up the air-conditioning to what felt like freezing levels, where exactly he placed me on one of the two hotel room beds, what movie he put on the television (Coneheads); how he disappeared in the bathroom and emerged, naked, bearing nothing but a small hand towel held flimsy at his mid-section. I remember what I was wearing (my favorite white denim shorts, thankfully, secured enough for me to keep on). I remember how he laid me down on the bed, wrapped me with his gigantic writhing body, and rubbed all over me. He spoke these words: “You’re not going to sleep on me now sweetie, stop pretending you’re sleeping,” as he rubbed harder and faster against my catatonic body. When he was ‘finished’, he suggested, “I think we should be careful…,” [about telling anyone] he meant. I was 12, he was 36.
I remember how afterwards, the taxi driver stared at me in the rear view mirror when Joel Kramer put me on his lap in the backseat and clutched me and grew aroused again; and how my eyes never left the driver’s eyes during that long ride over a Miami bridge, back to my hotel and parent. I remember how Joel Kramer grew cold with me in the ensuing weeks, how everything felt different on the set.
And I remember how soon-after, when my tough adult female friend (in whom I had confided my terrible secret on the condition of a trade that she let me drive her car around the Hollywood Hills) came out to the set to visit and face him, later that very same day, by no small coincidence, I was injured from a stunt-gone-wrong on the Harrier jet. With broken ribs, I spent the evening in the hospital. To be clear, over the course of those months rehearsing and filming True Lies, it was Joel Kramer who was responsible for my safety on a film that at the time broke new ground for action films. On a daily basis he rigged wires and harnesses on my 12 year old body. My life was literally in his hands: he hung me in the open air, from a tower crane, atop an office tower, 25+ stories high. Whereas he was supposed to be my protector, he was my abuser.
Why speak out now? I was 12, he was 36. It is incomprehensible. Why didn’t an adult on the set find his predatory advances strange — that over-the-top special attention he gave me. Fairly early on he nicknamed me “Jailbait” and brazenly called me by this name in a sick flirty way in front of others (at the time, I remember asking one of my older brothers what it meant). Sure, I’ve come to understand the terrible power dynamics that play into whistle-blowing by “subordinates” against persons in power, how difficult it can be for someone to speak up. But I was a child. Over the years I’ve really struggled as I’ve wondered how my life might have been different if someone, any one grown-up who witnessed his sick ways, had spoken up before he lured me to that hotel room.
Years ago, I had heard second hand that Joel Kramer was “found out” and forced to leave the business. I learned recently that in fact he still works at the top of the industry. And a few weeks ago, I found an internet photo of Joel Kramer hugging a young girl. That image has haunted me near nonstop since. I can no longer hide what happened.
Hollywood has been very good to me in many ways. Nevertheless, Hollywood also failed to protect me, a child actress. I like to think of myself as a tough Boston chick, in many ways I suppose not unlike Faith, Missy, or Echo. Through the years, brave fans have regularly shared with me how some of my characters have given them the conviction to stand up to their abusers. Now it is you who give me strength and conviction. I hope that speaking out will help other victims and protect against future abuse.
With every person that speaks out, every banner that drops down onto my iphone screen disclosing similar stories/truths, my resolve strengthens. Sharing these words, finally calling my abuser out publicly by name, brings the start of a new calm.
Eliza Dushku
https://www.facebook.com/OfficialElizaDushku/posts/1769957739689557
Time for a new hashtag, #thebitchknew So now the bubble dwellers are so concerned with abuse and child molestation? They amassed huge wealth by playing make believe. They are masters at bullsh!ttery, it’s their livelihoods. The abuse has been going on since the original Biograph Studios opened in the Bronx and Queens in the early 1900’s. Why should we believe them now?
>>At the time, I shared what happened to me with my parents, two adult friends and one of my older brothers. No one seemed ready to confront this taboo subject then, nor was I.
Bingo. My point exactly. They all know it happens and as long as the money keeps flowing in, doing a little work on their back is just part of the job. The parents of child actors are little more than pimps.
WTH????? Her parents knew and did nothing????? They allowed her to continue being “handled” by this guy on the movie????? Her parents sound like the very worst of stage parents.... ANY decent parent of ANY era would have put an end to this immediately.
YES. It is beyond appalling. What kind of parents could put their child in this situation AND do nothing about it when they are informed of the evil?????
No Jamie , You , Arnold, Tom Arnold & James Cameron are responsible. And everyone on the set who saw anything or heard anything.
Uh, not reading it all so did jlc speak up at the time or just feel sad.
Eliza’s story has now awakened us from our denial slumber to a new, horrific reality. And btw be sure to check my new movie, Halloween, opening in theaters on October 18th.
Only licensed professional s required by law to report
The purported victim, Eliza, was herself an adult by the time she confided in Curtis and only recently made the allegations public on her (Eliza’s) own FB page.
“She had shared that story with me privately a few years ago. I was shocked and saddened then and still am today.”
Not shocked or saddened enough to actually do anything though.
L
Hermie had way more power on that set than stunt guy. She could have gone to Cameron and demanded he be fired, at the very least, or she would walk. Even better, same threat if the cops weren’t brought in. Sounds like Hermie had the same problem as Paterno: they both knew about the crime, had a power level that would allow them to solve the problem, but figured it was better not to rock the boat. And I bet if ol’ Hermie showed up on another picture to find the stunt guy on set, she wouldn’t have had second thoughts about working with him.
Stunt coordinator denies Eliza Dushku sexual assault claims as mom, on-set guardian back her story
“”This is all vile lies,” Kramer told Us Weekly. “I never molested this young woman, ever.” He also denied that he was alone in a hotel room or taxi with her, as she alleged. “She is painting me out to be a monster, which I am not.” He further denied injuring her. “I talked to the stunt people on the [film] and asked did Eliza get hurt, because I don’t remember her getting hurt. When you harness someone you can get bumps and bruises, but I don’t remember her breaking any ribs and all of a sudden she is viciously attacking me,” he told Us. “We all treated Eliza like family. I just don’t get the vicious outright lies.”
Sue Booth-Forbes — who was Dushku’s legal guardian on the “True Lies” set — has issued a statement backing the actress’ claims as well. “Joel Kramer did what Eliza said he did. He is a pedophile, and he must face the consequences,” she said in a lengthy statement to Deadline. “I was on the ‘True Lies’ set for 3 weeks and reported Joel Kramer’s inappropriate sexual behavior towards 12-year-old Eliza to a person in authority. I was met with blank stares and had the sense that I wasn’t telling that person anything they didn’t already know... I was at the hospital and can verify that she was hurt and in pain with breaks/cracks to her ribs. Surely they have medical records somewhere to prove that.”
Thanks for the links.
Sorry she had to go through this, and it does bother me what he did, and the position he had, where he was responsible for her safety. She had to come into contact with him repeatedly, and trust he would do a good job insuring her safety. What a dilema.
She used to be in a show called “Doll House”.
The plot lines of that show used to bother me, these women and their calling to do almost anything to complete a task, then have their brain wiped so they wouldn’t have to deal with the memories.
While that may be a somewhat imprecise description, it’s close enough to reveal a massive moralistic disconnect.
It bothered me that young women watching, might get conflicting signals about what was acceptable for them to do in their lives.
Sometimes I watch the roles women play, and wonder if it wouldn’t be better if they refused them.
But now Kramer is denying everything. Says this is destroying him & getting death threats.
But her on set legal guardian seems to have been useless .
Who made Curtis the arbiter of all moral judgment?
Go away Jamie. Quit trying to gloss over your silence.
I am not bearing ANY responsibility Curtis. Speak for yourself!
The best described roll Jamie Lee Curtis ever played was the wife in True Lies, opposite Aunode! She played a clueless, ignorant, and loose wife. Real life, she appears to be the same. Skank!
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