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According to a new book, the late Hollywood actress Natalie Wood was sexually raped by Kirk Douglas when she was a teenager.
Lana Wood, Ms Wood’s sister, makes the charges in her upcoming memoir “Little Sister.”
Mr Douglas assaulted Ms Wood in the summer of 1955, according to portions from the book published by the Associated Press.
Ms. Wood was assaulted while filming The Searchers, according to reports.
Lana Wood claims that her mother, Maria Zakharenko, arranged for the Hollywood stars to meet at the prestigious Chateau Marmont hotel in the hopes that Mr Douglas could assist her open doors.
Mr Douglas, who was in his 30s at the time, was a well-known actor in Hollywood, having appeared in films like Spartacus, The Bad and the Beautiful, and Gunfight at the O.K. Corral.
Lana Wood writes, “It seemed like a long time passed before Natalie came back into the car and slammed the door shut, waking me awake.”
“She had a terrible appearance. She was dishevelled and agitated, and she and Mom began whispering urgently to each other. I couldn’t understand what they were saying since I couldn’t hear them. Something awful had reportedly happened to my sister, but I was apparently too young to be informed about it.”
Lana Wood, who was eight years old at the time, claims that her mother and sister agreed that publicly accusing Mr Douglas of assaulting Natalie would damage her career.
Natalie said she was brought into Mr Douglas’ suite and that “he hurt me, Lana,” but she didn’t tell her until years later.
Mr. Douglas, who was 103 years old at the time of his death, passed away in February 2020. Rumors about the alleged assault were so widespread that Ms Wood’s name was trending alongside his on Twitter after his death.
“May they both rest in peace,” his actor son Michael Douglas said in a statement provided through his publicist to The Associated Press.
Ms Wood drowned in November 1981 while on a weekend boat trip to Santa Catalina Island, California, under strange circumstances.
Her cause of death was modified in 2012 from “accident” to “drowning and other unidentified reasons.”
Robert Wagner, Wood’s husband at the time, was labelled a person of interest by police in 2018, and Lana Wood is among many who blame him for Natalie’s death.
