Brendan Fraser was a star in the 1990s and early 2000s, but then took a quick departure from almost all film and television appearances. Fraser will reappear from his hiatus in FX’s Trust in March, but for now, he hangs on to the last few weeks before the big debut. Fraser recently sat down and spoke about exactly what happened to make him turn his back on Hollywood Stardom.
Brendan Fraser is responsible for big comedy hits like Encino Man and Airheads, before becoming an action hero with The Mummy franchise. Fraser also had serious Hollywood hits, such as School Ties, Gods and Monsters, and Crash. With so many hits, it is a big mystery as to why he just disappeared from the Hollywood landscape. You would think that Fraser would have a long-lasting career that would take him into retirement and beyond. Well the truth is a lot darker than you might think.
In a recent interview with GQ Magazine, Fraser spoke about a number of things, but most-importantly what happened to him. The first thing that sidelined Fraser was physical injuries. With his film slate full, and having to perform his own stunts, the injuries began to take over. When production began on The Mummy 3, Fraser’s body was a mess:
“I was put together with tape and ice – just, like, really nerdy and fetishy about ice packs. Screw-cap ice packs and downhill-mountain-biking pads, ’cause they’re small and light and they can fit under your clothes. I was building an exoskeleton for myself daily. I needed a laminectomy (a surgery that involves removing vertebrae to relieve spinal pressure). And the lumbar didn’t take, so they had to do it again a year later.”
On top of that, he also had a partial knee replacement, vocal cord repair, and bolting of compressed spinal pads. Show business was taking its toll on Brendan. On top of all of the injuries, something far more sinister occurred.
14 years ago, Brendan Fraser’s trauma was not only physical, it was also pschycological. In 2003, Philip Berk, former president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (Association responsible for the Golden Globes) accosted Fraser at a luncheon at the Beverly Hills Hotel. During the meeting, Berk’s sexual advances went far beyond a joke:
“His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek, and one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around… I felt ill. I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry.
Brendan Fraser wanted to take the situation public, but “didn’t want to contend with how that made me feel, or it becoming part of my narrative.” He asked the HFPA for a written apology, and received one from Berk. Unfortunately the apology admitted no fault. Fraser fell into a deep depression that was rife with self guilt:
“I was blaming myself and I was miserable – because I was saying, ‘This is nothing; this guy reached around and he copped a feel.’ That summer wore on – and I can’t remember what I went on to work on next. [It] made me retreat. It made me feel reclusive… I don’t know if this curried disfavor with the group, with the HFPA. But the silence was deafening. [Work] withered on the vine for me. In my mind, at least, something had been taken away from me… Am I still frightened? Absolutely. Do I feel like I need to say something? Absolutely. Have I wanted to many, many times? Absolutely. Have I stopped myself? Absolutely.”
It became a slippery slope in which Brendan Fraser blamed himself for losing roles, his deteriorating body, eventually ending in his marriage falling apart in 2009. Fraser is ready to put all of that in his rear view mirror, and is staging what some are calling a comeback. He had a guest appearance on Showtime’s The Affair in 2016, Trust hits next month, and a Three Days of the Condor remake is coming soon.
Check out the full writeup at GQ.com.
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