San Diego Union-Tribune

ACCUSER OF SPACEY DIES BY SUICIDE

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Scandinavi­an writer Ari Behn — the ex-husband of Norwegian Princess Martha Louise and among the people who had accused actor Kevin Spacey of sexual misconduct — died this week, his manager said. He was 47.

Behn died by suicide Wednesday, his manager told the Norwegian news service NTB. Authoritie­s said he was found at his home in Norway.

The Norwegian royal family said in a written statement that Behn was “an important part of our family for many years and we carry warm and good memories of him with us.”

Behn, who was Danishborn, and Martha Louise, the oldest daughter of Norway’s King Harald and Queen Sonja, were married for 14 years. The couple divorced in 2017 and have three children.

The match had critics before it even became official. Negative coverage dogged Behn after a Las Vegas travelogue he hosted on Norwegian TV in the early 2000s briefly showed him around prostitute­s, some of them using cocaine.

Behn said at the time that it was mere reporting, not endorsemen­t, and Martha

Louise defended him.

Behn also wrote books and plays, including 1999’s “Trist som faen,” or “Sad as Hell,” a short story collection that was translated into several languages.

In 2017, Behn accused Spacey of groping him under the table at a Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo a decade earlier. It didn’t appear that Behn ever pursued criminal charges or a lawsuit against Spacey.

Spacey didn’t comment on the allegation­s at the time, which came amid a string of similar accusation­s.

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