Kevin Spacey appeared emotional as he sat down for an interview with Piers Morgan this week—one of few onscreen conversations the actor has had since he was hit with sexual misconduct allegations almost seven years ago.
Last July, Spacey was found not guilty of sexually assaulting four men, following a trial in the U.K. During the court proceedings, the former House of Cards star had denied nine charges that included seven counts of sexual assault. His accusers had alleged that the incidents took place between 2001 and 2013.
While Spacey's accusers had branded the two-time Oscar winner a "vile sexual predator," the American Beauty star countered that the accusations he faced were a "stab in the back" from men with whom he said he'd had consensual encounters.
He did, however, admit to touching one man's crotch in what he described as a "clumsy pass" after misinterpreting the signals, rather than a sexual assault. Spacey, who successfully fought similar accusations in the U.S., is currently involved in a civil trial over an allegation that he sexually assaulted a man in 2008.
Spacey's dramatic fall from grace came in October 2017, when Anthony Rapp alleged in an interview that the actor had attempted to "seduce" him at a party in 1986 when he was aged 14 and the Oscar winner was 26. Spacey released a statement after the story broke, in which he said he had no memory of the alleged incident, while also offering Rapp an apology.
More men subsequently came forward with similar accusations, leading to an abrupt halt to Spacey's Hollywood career and removal from several of his projects. In November 2017, Spacey was dropped from his leading role in Netflix's House of Cards and he was ordered to pay approximately $31 million to the studio behind the series for violating their sexual harassment policy and for breach of contract.
In recent weeks, Spacey has reemerged on the media circuit and last month spoke with NewsNation host Chris Cuomo about the aftermath of the allegations.
In a more extensive interview on Piers Morgan Uncensored that lasted over 90 minutes, Spacey delved into a range of talking points.
"It's been a very interesting and, I think, important couple of weeks where I've had the opportunity to start to be able to talk about that things that for me, in some cases, I've never talked about before," said Spacey, who also told Morgan that he had also taken "accountability for those places where I have behaved badly."
Newsweek has listed some of the highlights of the interview.
'Handsy' Past
During the interview, Spacey admitted to previously "pushing the boundaries," prompting Morgan to clarify what he meant by that.
"Being too handsy, touching someone sexually in a way that I didn't know at the time they didn't want," Spacey responded.
When pressed on whether such behavior was potentially criminal, Spacey said he would not use the word "grope" to describe what he had done, adding that he had "been gentle with people."
"You want to be gentle. You want to see if they're going to respond positively," he said.
Morgan asked: "Would you say all of that was consensual or was it an attempt at seduction, that if it was repelled, by definition becomes I guess non-consensual, that if you're being handsy, if you're groping people, and they don't want to do it ..."
"Then they should let you know they don't want to do it so that you can understand it's non-consensual and stop," Spacey replied.
After admitting that his position of power could prove intimidating for a young actor who might want to reject his advances, Spacey said that he is ready to "take accountability" for some "bad, bad, bad behavior."
He added, however, that "a whole lot of people" have made false allegations against him.
Debt, Losing His Home
At one point in the interview, Morgan asked Spacey where he lived, prompting the response: "Well, it's funny you asked that question because this week where I have been living in Baltimore has been foreclosed on. My house is being sold at auction.
"So I have to go back to Baltimore and pull all my things in storage. So the answer to that question is I'm not quite sure where I'm going to live now. But I've been in Baltimore since we started shooting House of Cards there. I moved there in 2012."
Spacey stated that he had been living in the home since 2016, adding that the property is being foreclosed on because he "can't pay the bills that I owe."
When asked if he was facing bankruptcy, Spacey said: "There's been a couple of times when I thought I was going to file, but we've managed to sort of dodge it, at least as of today."
Answering the question of how much money he now has, Spacey responded: "None," adding: "I still owe a lot of legal bills that I have not been able to pay."
Spacey said that he is "many millions" of dollars in debt.
King Charles III
King Charles III became an unlikely addition to the conversation, as Spacey suggested that the British monarch had sent him a message of "support."
When Morgan asked whether the king had contacted Spacey after his fall from grace, the actor responded: "No, I haven't heard from him directly, no."
When former CNN host Morgan asked if Spacey had received a message from Charles through other people, Spacey said: "That may be true."
"I heard a message, yes, and I'm very, very grateful for that," Spacey added, before confirming, after being pressed further, that it was a message of "support."
Asked if the message had meant a lot to him, Spacey told the broadcaster: "Yeah, but look, I don't want to drag him into all this."
Spacey, who was given an honorary knighthood by Charles in 2016, said that he had written a letter to the king, which he is yet to send.
Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell
During the interview, Morgan questioned Spacey on his relationship with deceased sex offender Jeffry Epstein, as well as former President Bill Clinton, King Charles' brother Prince Andrew and Epstein's ex-girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell.
The actor explained that he met Epstein after Clinton invited him on an eight-day humanitarian trip to Africa in 2002, primarily focused on raising awareness and prevention for AIDS. When flight log records confirmed Spacey's presence on Epstein's jet (dubbed the "Lolita Express"), he initially denied any connection.
During the trial of Maxwell, Epstein's pilot testified that he had seen Spacey, along with other celebrities, on the disgraced financier's flights.
In the interview he said: "I have since learned who he is and I have since been able to go back and find out that the airplane that we flew on for this humanitarian mission was owned by Jeffrey Epstein."
Spacey expressed discomfort about Epstein's presence, particularly due to the young girls on the flights.
"I felt he put the president at risk on that trip to South Africa because there were these young girls," he told Morgan.
He clarified that he was with the Clinton Foundation people during the trip. Spacey said that after the African trip, he then went to Buckingham Palace with the former president, who was going to "see Prince Andrew."
He said that while they were at Buckingham Palace, pictures were taken in the throne room, including one of Spacey and Ghislaine Maxwell, and they then went up to meet Prince Andrew. He claims that "I'd never met him before; I've not seen him since."
Spacey denied he was ever friends with Epstein. "I didn't know him, I didn't spend any time with him."
"He's not my friend, I'm not a confidant, I've never spent time with him," he added.
Stint in Rehab
Spacey revealed that soon after his 2017 scandal broke, he entered rehab.
"In all honestly, I don't think that I was able to really process much of what was happening," the actor told Morgan, adding that the realization he was in a "very, very dark place" led to him being encouraged to "take care" of himself.
"So I immediately—really before any of the decisions were made to punish me—I went into rehab," he said. "I didn't know if I was going to survive, and I just needed to go take care of myself."
Morgan asked Spacey what would have happened if he hadn't gone into rehab, prompting the response: "I don't know. It was a very unusual experience for me because I'd never been in therapy, I'd never looked into myself in the way it is that I was being asked to."
Spacey, who later went into other forms of therapy, added: "That process of trusting and watching the courage and the strength that these individuals in that program...
To watch individuals step up and share the story of their lives with such openness is what first gave me the courage to start to share my own."
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more
