Kirk Douglas ‘sexually abused star Natalie’
Actor hurt her badly, says sister
KIRK Douglas sexually assaulted Hollywood star Natalie Wood when she was an up-and-coming actress, her sister says.
The name of the actor behind the 1955 attack has long been one of Tinseltown’s darkest secrets.
Younger sister Lana Wood reveals it was the Spartacus star in her new book, saying Natalie told her: “He hurt me.”
She writes in Little Sister, out next week: “I remember that Natalie looked especially beautiful when mom and I dropped her off that night at the Chateau Marmont entrance.”
She says the attack happened as the young actress filmed The Searchers that summer.
Lana writes that their mother, Maria Zakharenko, arranged the meeting with Douglas believing he would further Natalie’s career.
She hoped “many doors might be thrown open for her, with just a nod of his famous, handsome head on her behalf ”.
Describing the incident, Lana, who was eight at the time, adds: “It seemed like a long time passed before Natalie got back into the car and woke me up when she slammed the door shut.
“She looked awful. She was very dishevelled and very upset, and she and mom started urgently whispering to each other.
“I couldn’t really hear them or make out what they were saying.
“Something bad had apparently happened to my sister, but whatever it was, I was apparently too young to be told about it.”
Lana says it was not until she grew up that Natalie told her what had happened in Douglas’ suite in the famous Los Angeles hotel.
She recalls being told: “He hurt me. It was like an out-of-body experience. I was terrified, confused.”
Lana, now 75, remembers her sister and their mother agreeing it would ruin Natalie’s career to accuse Douglas publicly.
Lana recalls promising she would not discuss the assault. Natalie drowned in mysterious circum
stances after disappearing from a yacht in 1981 aged 43.
Following Douglas’ death last year, aged 103, Lana writes: “With no one still around to protect, I’m sure she’ll forgive me for finally breaking that promise.”
Responding to the claims, Douglas’ actor son Michael, 77, said: “May they both rest in peace.”