Natalie Wood and Kirk Douglas (potential trigger warning)

[AnnunciataZ]

For years there were rumours that Kirk Douglas had raped Natalie Wood when she was a teenager and her sister has now confirmed it.

Poor Natalie, she was so talented but what a sad life and tragic end she had.

Her death was NOT an accident.

@xxxGirlCrushxxx wow you really need to address your internalised misogyny. People with opinions like you are the reason reports of rape are so low.

The same sister is also saying her husband murdered her (alleged)

Again, this has been rumoured for years and long before the sister wrote this book.

Yes, it was very suspicious @CornishGem1975. Didn't the authorities reopen the case a few years ago?

Yes and when it was reopened, Wagner (her husband) was officially recorded as a person of interest. Her death certificate was also amended, I can't remember the exact wording but basically to reflect that wasn't conclusively an accident, the coroners report was updated too to state that her bruising was probably inflicted prior to going into the water.

@Clocktopus her biographer wrote this article last year www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/03/natalie-wood-death-murder-robert-wagner-book

It is no surprise that this book has been written now that KD is dead

I think it’s unfortunate that the author waited till KD was dead and in no position to defend himself before she wrote the book.

I believe her too

[quote BubblesThaDragoon]@xxxGirlCrushxxx wow you really need to address your internalised misogyny. People with opinions like you are the reason reports of rape are so low.[/quote]
doubt that love

Disbelief as the default position helps perpetuate rape culture. Love.

I'm sure it was said that Natalie asked her sister to reveal it after her death.

I remember watching a made for TV movie about Natalie, must have been a long time ago because I was breastfeeding at the time so didn't change the channel, and Natalie was shown to have been sexually assaulted by a famous actor, although he was never named in the film.

I do recall Kirk being implicated in the murder of Jean Spangler, she believed herself to be pregnant and left a note for "Kirk" regarding an abortion. Douglas himself then phoned the police to assure them it wasn't him....

@Clocktopus

Disbelief as the default position helps perpetuate rape culture. Love.

Too right.

Didn't he change his story multiple times too? From "I don't know her" to "oh yes she's an extra on the movie I'm in but I've never engaged with her" to "yes I was chatting and joking with her on set but I didn't realise who she was until just now".

It may be true, it may not. Neither are here now to prove it or defend it. The really awful part is that she couldn't accuse and be heard before her death.

I don't see why Michael Douglas, or any of his family, should say more than he has on the matter though.

The last two paragraphs of that Guardian article have made me uncomfortable.

In his memoir The Ragman’s Son, published in 1988, Douglas writes briefly about Natalie Wood. He remembers driving home one night and stopping at a red light. The door of the car in front of him opened and “a pretty little girl wearing a suede jacket hopped out” and ran up to him.

“‘Oh, Mr Douglas, would you please sign my jacket?’” he remembers her saying. “As I obliged, the woman who was driving got out and introduced her. ‘This is my daughter. She’s in movies, too. Her name is Natalie Wood.’ That was the first time I met Natalie. I saw her many times afterward, before she died in that cruel accident.”

I think this is him hiding in plain sight. He included it because he knew what he had done and got a kick out of it.

@astoundedgoat

From her sister's description, it sounds like her mother knew exactly what she was doing. She delivered her teenage daughter to a powerful man's bedroom at night??? I'm not exonerating KD from blame, but it sounds like it's what was intended all along, even if Natalie didn't realise. Poor girl.

That's what I thought from the article. The mother knew what she was doing and it was a deliberate thing on her part.

Which doesn't exonerate Kirk Douglas, obviously.

I'd never heard of Jean Spangler so I had to Google. What a sad story. But it seems that KD was one of several suspects.
https://ew.com/celebrity/true-crime-jean-spangler-unsolved-disappearance/