Stacey Dash arrested in domestic battery incident
Stacey Dash, who turned her D-list fame as a supporting star of the 1990s teen comedy “Clueless” into notoriety as a right-wing pundit and failed congressional candidate, was arrested in Florida on suspicion of domestic violence, multiple outlets are reporting.
Her alleged victim is her fourth husband, Florida attorney Jeffrey Marty, whom she married in April 2018 after knowing him for just 10 days, Us Weekly reported.
Police did not identify Marty by name but TMZ confirmed his identity. The Pasco County Sheriff’s Department told Us Weekly that Dash, 52, got into a verbal argument Sunday evening with Marty in an apartment in New Port Richey, Florida. Dash reportedly pushed Marty and slapped him in the face, and he was found with “red scratch marks” on his left arm when authorities arrived.
But TMZ, citing a source close to Dash, said she acted in self-defense, with her husband attacking first by allegedly attempting to choke her. TMZ said Dash may have been the one who called 911 and was arrested because of the scratch marks on Marty’s arms, made when she was trying to defend herself.
Dash was taken into custody, charged with domestic battery and booked into the Land O’ Lakes detention facility, Us Weekly reported.
Dash’s arrest is the latest event in an eventful and turbulent personal and professional life. Dash was previously married three times and has two children — one with an ex-boyfriend and one with an ex-husband.
Dash has spoken openly about past traumas in her life, revealing in a 2016 memoir, “There Goes My Social Life,” that she was molested as a 4-year-old by a family friend and became addicted to cocaine as a teenager. Growing up in a culture of drugs and violence informed many of Dash’s views on social welfare and conservative politics, she explained in her memoir, People reported.
“When you get stuff for free, you have no selfworth,” Dash wrote, according to People. “When you have no self-worth, you become depressed, addicted and either abused or an abuser. This is what perpetuates the cycle of violence in inner cities. We don’t need free stuff. We need opportunities.”