Marlee Matlin is opening up about the darkest chapter of her life — and the Hollywood icon who helped her through it.
In the upcoming documentary Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore, premiering June 20, the Children of a Lesser God star revisits her tumultuous relationship with late actor William Hurt, whom she claims had a “habit of abuse,” and the deep friendship she formed with her longtime mentor, Henry Winkler, during her recovery.
Matlin, the first deaf actor to win an Oscar, met Hurt on the set of their 1986 film when she was just 19 and he was 35. While she says Hurt encouraged her to enter rehab, the actress revealed that post-rehab, she knew she couldn’t return. “I walked out of that house and never went back,” Matlin says in the film.
That’s when she leaned on Winkler.
“He didn’t make it hard for me to reach out to him,” Matlin told Fox News Digital. “He was always available. It was like an open door – an open door to his heart and my heart.”
Winkler recalled the moment Matlin appeared at his door: “‘I just broke up with my boyfriend. Can I stay with you just for the weekend?’ … Two years later, she finally moved out!” he laughed.
Matlin says Winkler and his wife Stacey Weitzman welcomed her like family. “If I didn’t have Henry in my life, I don’t think I would be here,” she shared. “He provided a place for me to feel safe.”
Their friendship came full circle in 1993, when Matlin married police officer Kevin Grandalski — in Winkler’s backyard. “There was no other place for her to get married, except in our yard, in her home away from home,” Winkler said.
The documentary also delves into Matlin’s past trauma and her bravery in coming forward before the #MeToo movement. “I didn’t know that you could ask for help,” Matlin said. “While I was screaming… no one came.”
Director Shoshannah Stern, who is also deaf, noted Matlin’s courage in speaking up despite the backlash. “She didn’t know that abuse was abuse at the time,” Stern said. “And that’s what happens to so many deaf people in the world.”
Now 59, Matlin says she’s still driven by the same fire that fueled her as a young actress breaking into Hollywood. “It was a dream come true. So why shouldn’t I be able to do another film?” she said. “But if it happened today, I would’ve made a lot of noise back then.”
Marlee Matlin: Not Alone Anymore premieres June 20.
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