Joan’s fury as her son brands his father a paedophile
But Joan denies son’s claim Newley ‘thought innocence was aphrodisiac’
DAME Joan Collins hit out at her son yesterday over claims that his father Anthony Newley was a paedophile.
Alexander Newley told a Sunday newspaper that his famous father was a paedophile who considered innocence to be ‘an aphrodisiac’.
But Dame Joan, 84, said the claim about her ex-husband was ‘absolutely untrue’, while the couple’s other child Tara Newley said she was shocked and ‘deeply upset by these false allegations’.
Actor and singer Newley, who died in 1999, was a known womaniser but in an interview with the Sunday Times his son claimed: ‘He was a paedophile. My father was drawn to youthfulness; he thought innocence was an aphrodisiac.
‘That was his sexual proclivity and it’s a very dangerous, destructive thing.’
Artist Mr Newley, 52, was speaking to the newspaper about his memoir, Unaccompanied Minor, in which he described his father as ‘flagrantly unfaithful’ and ‘a sex addict’. In the book, set to be published this week, he said: ‘He [Anthony Newley] had been honest with my mother about his appetite for young girls, and said he would change, but she married him anyway.’
During the interview, Mr Newley described a 1969 film which his father wrote, directed and starred in as ‘a confession of paedophilia’.
He said the controversial film – Can Heironymous Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness? – destroyed his parents’ marriage because of what it revealed about his father’s desires. In the film, Newley played the title role of Merkin, a successful middle-aged singer who is making a movie about his life focusing on his promiscuous relationships with women, particularly his wife – played by Dame Joan – and the adolescent Mercy Humppe.
His real children also appeared in the film as Merkin’s son and daughter Mr Newley claimed the character of Mercy Humppe was ‘the “perfect childlover” – an underage girl’, adding: ‘My mother was destroyed by that film: it was the end of their marriage.’ But Dame Joan – who on Saturday joined daughter Tara in Bristol at a demonstration against violence to women – denied the claims, saying in a statement: ‘As far as I’m concerned this is absolutely untrue. I have nothing further to add.’
Tara Newley, 54, said: ‘I was shocked by my brother’s comments. From my end, I don’t recognise the man he is describing. I had an incredibly close relation- ship with my father and am deeply upset by these false allegations.’
In his memoir, Mr Newley, who is known as Sacha, also described his mother as a ‘narcissist’ who had virtually abandoned him and his sister to pursue fame.
He described how his parents were ‘enslaved’ to the demands of their careers and said his father ‘depended on the promise of an after-show tryst with a starlet or groupie’. The artist said his mother’s obsession with fame put a strain on their relationship but he later became close to her. He has previously claimed he discussed the book with her, adding: ‘She has read it and likes it very much.’
Anthony Newley was the second of Dame Joan’s five husbands. The couple married in 1963 and divorced in 1971, when their son was five. Newley married four times in total.
He was best known for his role as the Artful Dodger in the 1948 film version of Oliver Twist. He also co-wrote the lyrics to the James Bond theme song Goldfinger and was nominated for an Oscar with his songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse for the score of the 1971 film Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, starring Gene Wilder.
Following her marriage to Newley, Dame Joan went on to marry American businessman Ron Kass – with whom she has a daughter – and Swedish singer Peter Holm.
In 2002 she married her current husband Percy Gibson, who is 32 years her junior.
‘Upset by these false allegations’