Marlee Matlin has opened up about the abuse she suffered at the hands of an ex-boyfriend early in her career – the late William Hurt who died in 2022 aged 71.
The actress, 59, has recalled her experience in the documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 23.
Matlin met Hurt when he was 35 and she was just 19 while filming the movie Children of a Lesser God in 1986, her first feature film.
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Marlee Matlin has opened up at the treatment she faced from her late ex, actor William Hurt, in a new documentary. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)The following year, Matlin won Best Actress at the 1987 Academy Awards.
At that time, she and Hurt had been together for a year and he was the one presenting her with the Oscar.
"I was afraid as I walked up the stairs to get the Oscar," Matlin revealed in the documentary.
"I was afraid because I knew in my gut that he wasn't happy. Because I saw the look on his face and my thought was, 'S---t'."
The West Wing star explains that after kissing Hurt, she "didn't take the Oscar from him right away" out of fear.
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Matlin was presented with her Oscar by Hurt, and recalls being "afraid" as she approached him on stage. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)"I wish it were different. I wish I had shown my joy. But I was afraid because he was standing right there," she said.
To make matters worse, Hurt had missed out on winning the Best Actor Oscar just moments later.
Matlin said he was cold to her later that night.
The Academy Awards moment was replayed in the documentary.
Jack Jason, Matlin's sign-language interpreter on the set of Children of a Lesser God, said in the documentary he saw the actress with injuries during the relationship including emerging from a room with Hurt with a black eye.
Matlin has spoken out about the abuse she suffered during the relationship. (Ron Galella Collection via Getty)Children of a Lesser God director Randa Haines added: "I could see that they were having arguments, fights.
"I remember once noticing a bruise. But I didn't know. Nobody felt that they had license to enter into a private relationship or comment on it or ask questions about it," she said.
Matlin feels Hurt was "threatened by [her] youth" and overnight success in the documentary.
The actress had previously opened up about the abusive relationship in her 2009 autobiography I'll Scream Later.
In the book she said her two-year relationship with Hurt had "gone from passionate and troubled to dangerously difficult and codependent".
The documentary also chronicles the inroads Matlin made for the deaf community in the years following her historic Oscar win (Getty)She recalled one particularly brutal fight during their relationship.
"I don't remember when or how the fight started; what I know is that I have never been as scared in my life before or after that day," she said in the book.
After the "struggle turned violent" she ran to the phone to call a friend but "Bill yanked the phone out of my hand and slammed it down".
She was able to call again and was picked up and was taken to hospital where "fresh bruises" were found "on her arms and face".
That spelled the end of their relationship.
Hurt died in 2022 aged 71. (Getty)Matlin recalled the final time she saw him following their split.
Both had battled with substance abuse and completed rehabilitation programs.
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He arrived at her home and they went out to eat.
On the way back, she recalls Hurt stopping in the street and saying: "It's over. It's really over. I just wanted to verify it."
Matlin says she began crying but quickly reminded herself of the progress she had made.
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore chronicles the inroads Matlin made for the deaf community in the years following her historic Oscar win.
After her 2021 film CODA won three Academy Awards – including best picture and best supporting actor for Troy Kotsur, a deaf actor – Matlin said in a speech that she was now "not alone anymore" as the only deaf Oscar-winning actor.
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore will be available in Australia on Disney Plus from July 8.
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