Stan Lee’s daughter accused of elder abuse
Marvel legend being exploited, publication says
Stan Lee, the 95-year-old former editor-in-chief, publisher and chairman of Marvel Comics, might have developed a flourishing empire when it comes to business, but, sadly, the same cannot be said when it comes to his personal life. In a damning Hollywood Reporter exposé, the publication reports that since the death of Lee’s wife Joanie last summer, his 67-year-old daughter J.C. Lee has been exploiting her father for his money, spending anywhere from US$20,000 to $40,000 a month on credit cards. If she is refused additional money — and more than the trust her parents arranged for her can provide — she reportedly becomes verbally abusive, and “typically yells and screams at me and cries hysterically if I do not capitulate.”
On multiple occasions, his daughter’s verbal assaults have turned physical, according to household staff and business associates. In February, Lee attempted to stop the abuse by visiting his lawyer Tom Lallas and signing a declaration describing the issue. He listed his daughter’s former consultant Jerry Olivarez, her lawyer Kirk Schenck and his friend Keya Morgan as three key people attempting to “gain control over my assets, property and money.”
Lee’s estate is worth an estimated $50 million-70 million. Soon after the declaration was written, Lallas was mysteriously fired. Then, Lee’s assistant was demoted to part-time, his accountant was replaced and his housekeeper and gardener were also fired. His phone number was changed and his emails are now monitored, written by Morgan, who claims he does this at Lee’s request due to his degenerative eyesight.
When Morgan learned that THR had obtained a copy of the declaration, he responded with a video of Lee taking back many of the claims he made in the document he signed only a month earlier. In the clip, Lee claims, “My relationship with my daughter has never been better and my friend, Keya Morgan and I, also have a great relationship.” He goes on to criticize Lallas as well, implying he is an “enemy,” and says due to his poor vision, he may have signed the declaration “by mistake,” calling its contents “totally incorrect.”
In a statement to People, Lallas said he was aware of Lee’s poor vision, and so he read the declaration back to him “word for word, line by line,” confirming each bit of accuracy. Lee, previously a comic convention staple, has been making fewer public appearances in the last year due to his declining health. In the profile, his former business manager professes, “It breaks my heart to see somebody that I love being effectively held prisoner. He finds himself in need of a superhero himself.”
Lee’s daughter refused to speak with The Hollywood Reporter. However, her lawyer, who was also named in the disputed declaration, told the publication that “the story isn’t that J.C. is taking advantage of her father, but that she’s potentially being taken advantage of by multiple men.”
According to THR, the “conflicting stories” they heard from the other parties involved “reveal an increasingly toxic and combative situation involving broken alliances, abrupt expulsions and allegations of elder abuse against one of America’s most influential and beloved cultural icons.” Or, as one “insider,” quoted in the story calls it, “an utter s--t show.”