Marlee Matlin said ex-partner William Hurt, whom she previously accused of brutally raping and beating her in the ’80s, was “one-of-a-kind” when asked about his death on Sunday.
“You’re the first person to ask me about him,” the actress, who is deaf, signed to a reporter on the Critics’ Choice Awards red carpet, shrugging her shoulders and looking visibly shocked.
“We’ve lost a really great actor and working with him on set in ‘Children of a Lesser God’ will always be something I remember very fondly,” she continued. “He taught me a great deal as an actor and he was one-of-a-kind.”
Hurt, who starred in films like “The Big Chill’’ and “Broadcast News,” died Sunday following a battle with prostate cancer. He was 71.
“It is with great sadness that the Hurt family mourns the passing of William Hurt, beloved father and Oscar winning actor, on March 13, 2022, one week before his 72nd birthday,’’ the actor’s son William said in a statement.
“He died peacefully, among family, of natural causes. The family requests privacy at this time.”
Hurt and Matlin, 56, met on the set of their 1986 movie “Children of a Lesser God,” and began dating when she 19 and he was 35.
Several years after their split, the actress alleged in her 2009 memoir, “I’ll Scream Later,” that she was subjected to persistent abuse throughout their relationship. She accused Hurt of raping and beating her after coming home drunk at 4:30 a.m.
“The next thing I knew he’d pulled me out of the bed, screaming at me, shaking me,” she wrote in her book.
“I was scared, I was sobbing. Then he threw me on the bed, started ripping off his clothes and mine,” she alleged. “I was crying. ’No, no, no. Please Bill, no.’ The next thing I remember is Bill ramming himself inside me as I sobbed.”
In a statement released at the time, Hurt did not deny the allegations, but insisted the exes had already “apologized” to each other.
“My own recollection is that we both apologized and both did a great deal to heal our lives,” he said in 2009 following the publication of her book.
“Of course, I did and do apologize for any pain I caused. And I know we both have grown. I wish Marlee and her family nothing but good.”
