The heartbreaking reason why Brendan Fraser was "blacklisted" from Hollywood for years has been revealed.
In the 90s, the American and Canadian actor was one of the biggest movie stars in the world, starring in blockbuster hits like Encino Man, The Mummy, and George of the Jungle.
At one point, it seemed like Fraser would have a long and successful career as a leading man; however, his career trajectory collapsed after he abruptly disappeared from the public eye.
The reason for the actor's sudden career decline was the subject of intense speculation for many years. The truth didn't emerge until a 2018 interview with a GQ journalist, where Fraser revealed his absence was not a personal choice but instead, the result of a traumatic experience he believes derailed his career.
The Gods and Monsters actor claimed that the horrific incident took place in 2003, at a luncheon with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which is the organization that throws the Golden Globe Awards.
The former HFPA president, Philip Berk, allegedly touched him in an extremely inappropriate way. "His left hand reaches around, grabs my ass cheek," he said. "And one of his fingers touches me in the taint. And he starts moving it around."
At first, Fraser felt overwhelmed with panic. Then he snapped out of it, removed Berk's hand, and left the event.
"I felt ill," he said. "I felt like a little kid. I felt like there was a ball in my throat. I thought I was going to cry... I felt like someone had thrown invisible paint on me."
The Bedazzled star confessed to his ex-wife what happened, but he couldn't bring himself to tell the police or go public. "I didn't want to contend with how that made me feel, or it becoming part of my narrative," he explained.
Berk denied the actor's version of the story, calling it a "total fabrication," but sent Fraser a letter of apology.
Fraser says the HFPA promised him he would never be in the same room as Berk again, but life didn't go back to normal. Instead, his career declined, leaving him to wonder if he’d been blacklisted.
"I became depressed," he said. "I was blaming myself, and I was miserable."
Fraser’s celebrated return to acting, dubbed the “Brennaissance” by fans on TikTok, began in 2018 with a series of television roles.
These included voicing Robotman on DC Universe's Titans, a role he would later reprise on Max's Doom Patrol, as well as starring as the villain Firefly in the Batgirl film.
His comeback reached a new peak in 2021 when he was cast as the lead in Darren Aronofsky's The Whale, marking his first major leading role since 2013.
Two years later, his performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role. The actor was overcome with emotion as he delivered a heartwarming speech, thanking his cast and crew, as well as his three sons, two of whom were proudly watching.
“I thank the academy for this honour… Darren Aronofsky for throwing me a creative lifeline and hauling me aboard the good ship The Whale," he said in his acceptance speech. “I started in this business 30 years ago…there was a facility that that I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped.”
The momentum of his resurgence continues with his next project, a film titled Rental Family.
According to Time Out, the synopsis describes the movie as a story about a struggling American actor in modern-day Tokyo who, by "immersing himself in his clients’ worlds, he begins to form genuine bonds that blur the lines between performance and reality".
"Confronting the moral complexities of his work, he rediscovers purpose, belonging, and the quiet beauty of human connection," the description continues.
Director Hikari shared that while the film is inspired by "a real, and sometimes unusual, business in Japan," it is "ultimately about people longing for connection, and discovering the meaning of true friendship in modern Tokyo."