Woody Harrelson is known for playing larger-than-life characters in everything from Cheers to No Country for Old Men to The Hunger Games to True Detective. But the story of his real-life family might be the wildest story of all.

Long before Woody was a household name, his father, Charles Voyde Harrelson, was making headlines of a very different kind — as a contract killer with deep ties to organized crime, and ultimately, as the man responsible for the first assassination of a federal judge in the 20th century.

A Hollywood star’s little-known legacy

Charles Harrelson's criminal record reads like something out of a noir thriller. Tried for three murders and convicted twice, Charles spent most of his life either in prison or trying to escape it.

Born in Lovelady, Texas, in 1938, he worked early on as a professional gambler and encyclopedia salesman — before allegedly becoming a hitman for hire.

He was first convicted in 1968 for the murder of Texas grain dealer Sam Degelia Jr. and served just five years before being released. Then came the crime that stunned the nation.

In 1979, Charles was arrested for the murder of US District Judge John H. Wood Jr., the first sitting federal judge to be assassinated in the US during the 20th century. Charles carried out the hit on behalf of drug dealer Jamiel Chagra, who paid him $250,000 to eliminate the judge before his upcoming trial.

According to a detailed report by Texas Monthly and later echoed in numerous accounts, Charles was captured after a six-hour armed standoff with police, during which he allegedly confessed not only to Judge Wood’s murder — but also to the assassination of JFK, a claim widely dismissed as delusional.

In 1982, he was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. He died in 2007 at the Florence supermax prison in Colorado.

Growing up with a ghost

For Woody, born in 1961, life with Charles as a father was anything but stable. In a 2012 interview with The Guardian, he recalled how his dad was “away and back. Away and back” — in and out of prison throughout his early years.

“I think they separated when I was 7, but he was gone a lot before that,” Harrelson said. “[My mom] was well out of love with him… but she never really soured us on him. She didn’t talk negative about him, never, ever. And she could have — he wasn’t the greatest husband. Or father.”

Raised by their mother Diane Harrelson in Texas and Ohio, Woody and his brothers - Jordan and Brett - were essentially estranged from their father for much of their lives. But despite the distance, Woody has never completely written him off.

In a candid 1980s interview with PEOPLE, he said: “I don’t feel he was much of a father. He took no valid part in my upbringing. This might sound odd to say about a convicted felon, but my father is one of the most articulate, well-read, charming people I’ve ever known.”

He added: “I look at him as someone who could be a friend more than someone who was a father.”

Fans stunned by true-crime twist

Though the story isn’t new, it gained fresh traction after an Instagram post by historyfeels revisited Charles Harrelson’s crimes — including his botched escape attempt and alleged mob ties — prompting an outpouring of stunned reactions online.

“I was today years old when I learned this… holy cow!” one user wrote.

“Congrats to Woody for breaking the cycle and becoming a peace-loving person,” another added.

Others questioned why the story was resurfacing at all: “Poor Woody doesn’t need reminding — and really, it’s no one’s business.”

A DNA twist that shocked even Hollywood

As if Woody’s family history wasn’t dramatic enough, there's one more twist: he and fellow actor Matthew McConaughey might actually be brothers.

On an episode of the Let’s Talk Off Camera podcast in 2023, McConaughey revealed that during a trip to Greece, his mother made a cryptic comment to Woody: “Woody, I knew your dad.” According to McConaughey, she said "knew" with heavy, suggestive emphasis.

The pair later discovered that Charles Harrelson was on furlough at the same time McConaughey’s parents were going through their second divorce — and in the same part of Texas.

Woody later confirmed the rumor had legs, telling Esquire: “I learned from Ma Mac, Matthew’s mother, that she did have a relationship with my father… coinciding with the time of Matthew’s, let’s say, origination.”

Though no DNA test has been done, Woody added: “We haven’t done a test, but there are too many times that I think to myself, My God, the similarities… I’ve felt that for years.”

Breaking the cycle

Despite growing up with the shadow of one of America’s most notorious contract killers, Woody Harrelson’s life has been defined by a very different kind of legacy — one of humor, activism, and artistic reinvention.

He’s been nominated for three Oscars, starred in cult classics and billion-dollar blockbusters, and built a reputation as one of Hollywood’s most versatile and unpredictable stars.

As one fan put it perfectly in response to Charles’ story going viral again: “Hats off to Woody Harrelson for not letting his past personal life dictate his own life and, ultimately, his career.”

The story of Woody Harrelson and his father isn’t just about crime, infamy, or scandal — it’s about the power of choice, and the paths we carve for ourselves, no matter where we come from.

Featured image credit: Paul Morigi/Getty Images for HBO

Woody Harrelson got into a physical altercation with a man who reportedly refused to stop taking photos of the Hunger Games actor and his daughter, according to Washington, D.C. police.

The Academy Award-nominated actor, 60, reportedly struck a man in self-defense during a physical altercation on the rooftop of the Watergate Hotel on Wednesday night, according to a police report obtained by USA Today.

According to the report by the Washington DC Metropolitan Police Department, a man lunged towards Harrelson and attempted to grab his neck following a "verbal dispute."

Acting in "defense of himself," Harrelson punched the man. The police report was based on several eyewitnesses accounts.

The unidentified man, who witnesses described to police as "intoxicated," was taking pictures of Harrelson and his daughter, prompting Harrelson to request the person to delete the photos, according to police.

That verbal dispute prompted the physical altercation. Police were called at around 11 PM on Wednesday, October 6, after a report of an assault on the roof deck of The Watergate Hotel, Page Six reports.

Officers arrived and found several people on the roof, including Harrelson and his daughter.

An investigation into the altercation is ongoing, and no charges have been filed yet. The man's name will be released if there are charges.

NBC Washington reports that the man who lunged towards Harrelson is set to face charges, police told News4.

Harrelson has been in Washington, D.C. filming an HBO series called The White House Plumbers, on the Watergate scandal.

The actor is father to three daughters - Makani, 15, Zoe, 25, and Deni, 28 - whom he shares with his wife, Laura Louie.

It is unclear which daughter was with her famous father during the incident.

Featured image credit: REUTERS / Alamy

Woody Harrelson, who you know best as Haymitch from The Hunger Games and your parents know best as Woody from Cheers, has landed his next big role. Deadline announced the 57-year-old will play psychedelic drug advocate Timothy Leary in a limited series. Luke Davies (Hulu's Catch-22) will adapt the project, which is based on Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis's book The Most Dangerous Man in America.

As a psychology professor at Harvard in the 1960's, Leary experimented with psychedelic drugs, believing the effects could be therapeutic. These research projects got him canned at Harvard, so he relocated the operation to Zihuatanejo, Mexico. When the Mexican media published reports about the "LSD Paradise," the government gave Leary the boot, prompting he and his team to move to a mansion in Millbrook, New York.

"A psychedelic experience is a journey to new realms of consciousness," Leary and colleagues Richard Alpert and Alpert and Ralph Metzner wrote in the 1964 book The Psychedelic Experience. "The scope and content of the experience is limitless, but its characteristic features are the transcendence of verbal concepts, of spacetime dimensions, and of the ego or identity."

They continued: "Such experiences of enlarged consciousness can occur in a variety of ways: sensory deprivation, yoga exercises, disciplined meditation... [and] through the ingestion of psychedelic drugs such as LSD, psilocybin, mescaline, DMT, etc. Of course, the drug does not produce the transcendent experience. It merely acts as a chemical key -it opens the mind, frees the nervous system of its ordinary patterns and structure."

Leary's passionate advocacy for psychedelics made him a countercultural icon in the swinging 60's. The "performing philosopher" popularized fab, groovy catchphrases like "turn on, tune in, drop out" and "think for yourself and question authority." However, Leary's trippy exploits also got him trouble with the feds, as in 1970 he got sentenced to sentenced to ten years in prison for marijuana possession.

With the help of The Brotherhood of Eternal Love and the Weather Underground, Leary broke out of prison and managed to dodge the FBI for nearly two and a half years. He fled to Algeria to hide out with the Black Panthers, then flew to Switzerland, where he was sheltered/imprisoned by arms dealer Michel Hauchard. Eventually Leary made his way to Afghanistan, where officials finally arrested him in 1972.

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During this madcap narrative, President Richard Nixon dubbed Leary "the most dangerous man in America." Hence the title of the 2018 book, and the upcoming limited series. There's no network attached to The Most Dangerous Man in America as of this writing, but it's only a matter considering the fascinating story and absolutely perfect casting. Sounds far out, man!

Woody Harrelson has sparked backlash on social media after his opening monologue on Saturday Night Live.

The 61-year-old actor began his segment by stating that it was his fifth time doing SNL and reminiscing on the multiple occasions he has hosted the comedy show.

He touched on various topics such as political divisions, smoking marijuana - claiming that his manager, Jeremy, transported the weed from an LA shop to New York for him - as well as not drinking alcohol for five months.

The Zombieland star then wrapped up his monologue by talking about a pitch that featured one of the "craziest scripts" he’s read - a clear metaphor for the pandemic - which included the "biggest drug cartels" that forced people to stay in their homes unless they agreed to take their substances.

"So the movie goes like this," the actor explained. "The biggest drug cartels in the world are coming together and buying up all the media and all the politicians and forcing everyone in the world to stay locked in their homes."

"And the only way people can get out is if they take the cartel’s drugs, and keep taking them over and over again," he remarked. "I threw the script away. I mean who would believe this crazy idea?" Harrelson joked. "Being forced to take drugs? I do it voluntarily all day."

The True Detective star's comments about the collaboration between the medical industry and the government to advance vaccines were widely shared online, and not many people were impressed.

One user stated: "Has Woody Harrelson even been acting all this time or has he just wandered onto film sets in a daze, spewed whatever came to mind, and the directors always just said 'keep it'"

Another chimed in and commented: "Is this clip out of context or is woody actually f***ing stupid because nobody in this country was locked in their house or was forced to vaccinate lol."

A third declared: "It’s such an incredibly selfish & privileged position, the anti-vax, anti-lockdown, covid conspiracy one. Woody Harrelson, & those supporting such **, are only able to do so because they themselves are ok. Nobody who suffered or lost loved ones to Covid talks like that."

A fourth interjected: "Ooof I lost all respect for him."

Meanwhile, Twitter CEO Elon Musk weighed in on the discussion, writing: "So based. Nice work @nbcsnl!" and when a user warned people to "get ready for the meltdowns," the 51-year-old added: "Maybe they [media outlets] don’t realize that their propaganda is wrong?"

The Triangle of Sadness star has previously shared a slew of conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus pandemic. In one interview with Vanity Fair last year, he described wearing a mask as "absurd" and remarked that he hasn't gotten the virus because he’s "internally clean".

His comments on the late-night sketch show were bizarre judging by the fact that in the past SNL has been publicly covid-conscious and chose to film the quarantined season from their cast member's homes.

But, despite his opening monologue, Harrelson was commemorated with his SNL Five-Timers Club jacket at the end of the episode - which was presented by frequent host and award-winning actress Scarlett Johansson.

Featured image credit: Andia / Alamy

The three men convicted of killing Ahmaud Arbery have been sentenced.

Today, 35-year-old Travis McMichael, his father, 66-year-old Gregory McMichael, and their neighbor, 52-year-old William "Roddie" Bryan, were sentenced after being convicted on multiple charges, including felony murder, in the 2020 killing of the 25-year-old Arbery.

Travis McMichael was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole plus 20 years. Gregory McMichael also received life without the possibility of parole plus 20 years.

William "Roddie" Bryan was sentenced to life with the possibility of parole.

Prior to announcing the sentences, Judge Timothy Walmsley referenced the five-minute chase of Arbery, saying: "When I thought about this, I thought from a lot of different angles, and I kept coming back to the terror that must have been in the mind of the young man running through Satilla Shores."

Amid the sentencing hearing, Ahmaud Arbery’s mother, Wanda Cooper-Jones, asked the court to slap the three men with the maximum sentence.

"These men have chose to lie and attack my son and his surviving family," Cooper-Jones said. "They each have no remorse and do not deserve any leniency."

Additionally, Ahmaud's father told the court in his victim impact statement: "I'll never get that chance to sit next to my son ever again."

"When I close my eyes, I see his execution in my mind over and over. I'll see that for the rest of my life," Marcus Arbery added.

During the sentencing hearing, the attorney for Gregory McMichael said that he "never wanted another person to die". Per CNN, attorney Laura Hogue argued that McMichael's lack of intent should be considered when it came to his sentence.

"If life without parole is a sentence that is held for only the worst of the worst, it simply can’t be a sentence for a person who never intended that tragic result that took place," Hogue said.

The defense teams for all three men asked the court for life sentences with the possibility of parole, CNN adds.

The trio of white men was convicted of chasing and fatally shooting Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, by a Georgia jury in November. Since then, they have been held at Glynn County Detention Centre - the same facility where they have been held since their arrest.

Arbery was out for a Sunday jog in February 2020 when Travis McMichael, 35, and his father Gregory McMichael, 65, gave chase with weapons.

The father and son believed Arbery had committed a crime in their Satilla Shores neighborhood  - located just outside of Brunswick - and claim to have been conducting a citizens arrest, CNN reports.

They were joined along the way by their neighbor, William 'Roddie' Bryan, who recorded the pursuit from his pickup truck. In the video, Travis McMichael can be seen tussling with Arbery over a shotgun before fatally shooting him.

Authorities were slow to react to the killing, which the McMichael's claimed to have happened in self-defense, and which Bryan maintained he had no part in.

The trio was so confident in their innocence that they released the video footage to the public - a decision that led to many members of the public calling for their arrest.

When the case was brought to trial, all three men pleaded not guilty to the murder charges brought against them.

After 11 hours of deliberation, the jury convicted Travis McMichael on all nine charges: malice murder, four counts of felony murder, aggravated assault with a shotgun, aggravated assault with a pickup truck, false imprisonment and criminal intent to commit a felony.

His father - a former Georgia police officer - was found not guilty of malice murder but was convicted on all the remaining charges.

Meanwhile, Bryan was convicted of three felony murder counts alongside charges of aggravated assault, false imprisonment, and criminal intent to commit a felony.

This is not the last time Ahmaud Arbery's killers will appear in court. All three have been indicted on federal hate crime charges - to which they have all pleaded not guilty.

Jury selection for the federal hate crime trial will begin on February 7.

Featured Image Credit: REUTERS / Alamy