An emotional Kevin Spacey has said he is ‘humbled’ after being dramatically cleared of sexually assaulting four men following a star-studded trial where Sir Elton John gave evidence in his defence.
The double Oscar winner, who marks his 64th birthday today, was overcome with emotion when the jury at Southwark Crown Court in London returned not guilty verdicts on all counts.
Spacey was accused of abusing his fame and power to carry out nine sex attacks on four men during his tenure as artistic director of the Old Vic theatre. But he insisted the claims were ‘madness’ and accused the claimants of ‘lying for money’.
Speaking on the steps of the court after the verdicts were delivered, the American thanked the jury, his legal team and his loyal manager and longtime friend, Evan Lowenstein, for standing by him.
He said: ‘I imagine that many of you can understand that there’s a lot for me to process after what has just happened today. But I would like to say that I’m enormously grateful to the jury for having taken the time to examine all of the evidence and all of the facts, carefully, before they reached their decision.
‘And I am humbled by the outcome today. I also want to thank the staff inside this courthouse, the security, my legal team and Evan Lowenstein for being here every day.’
The allegations not only shredded what had been a glittering showbiz career but also had major financial implications, with the star told to pay £25.5million to the producers of House of Cards after he was sacked.
He has also been landed with at least £1million in defence fees and suffered the humiliation of being edited out of the Sir Ridley Scott film All The Money In The World. Earlier in the trial Spacey told the jury: ‘I’ve lost everything’.
Two of the men involved in the case are known to also be suing Spacey in the civil courts. However, the verdict ends the criminal proceedings against him raises the prospect that he could soon return to our screens after being shunned by Hollywood for the last six years.
Speaking on the steps of the court after the verdicts were delivered, Kevin Spacey thanked the jury, his legal team and his loyal manager and longtime friend, Evan Lowenstein
Kevin Spacey leaves Southwark Crown Court today after being cleared of all charges in his sex assault case
A court sketch showing Spacey dabbing his eyes after the not guilty verdicts came through
Following the not guilty verdicts, Spacey placed his hand on his chest, looked at the jury and mouthed ‘thank you’ twice before they left the room.
Angered by the celebrations in the public gallery, Mr Justice Wall said: ‘The members of the public gallery will stop reacting, or I will throw you out.’
He then commended the jurors, saying: ‘Every case I have to do has its own difficulties. In your case this pressure came from the fact that this was a case attracting significant attention and you were like fish in a goldfish bowl.’
Mr Justice Wall said Spacey was free to leave the dock, and after the jury had left the room, the star embraced his legal team and wiped tears from his eyes.
Jurors rejected the prosecution’s claims that Spacey had ‘aggressively’ grabbed three men by the crotch and had performed a sex act on another man while he was asleep in his flat.
In one case, the court was told Spacey allegedly grabbed another man’s crotch ‘like a cobra’ after meeting him at a West End theatre in the mid-2000s following an alleged ‘barrage of vile comments’.
Under questioning from Spacey’s lawyer, Patrick Gibbs KC, the complainants all denied either seeking financial gain, attempting to further their career or giving false accounts to the jury.
As perhaps the most high profile victim of the Me Too Movement, Spacey had described how his ‘world exploded’ and he ‘lost everything in a matter of days’ in 2017 after being accused of making sexual advances to American actor Anthony Rapp when he was just 14.
The allegation, which Spacey was later cleared of, led to an avalanche of claims from at least 30 men in America and Britain.
A review at the Old Vic identified alleged inappropriate behaviour towards 20 men, but Spacey was never convicted of any criminal offence.
After a five-year Scotland Yard investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service charged the House of Cards star with a series of sex attacks on four men between 2001 and 2013.
But Spacey maintained his accusers were motivated by ‘money, money and then money’, with one accuser filing a claim for £500,000 in compensation.
The jury of nine men and three women took 12 hours and 26 minutes to announce its verdict.
Three alleged indecent assaults and four sexual assaults were dated between 2001 and 2004. The five further offences that were alleged against him range from between 2005 to 2013.
Throughout the trial Spacey was sure of his innocence, repeatedly denying all the charges against him.
Spacey was sacked from House Of Cards and then suffered the humiliation of being edited out of the Sir Ridley Scott film All The Money In The World
His depiction of Frank Underwood in House of Cards, which won him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor
Spacey poses with his award for Best Supporting Actor in The Usual Suspects
As allegations piled up and his acting roles came to a halt, the hit to Spacey financially was equally devastating.
His defence costs for the UK trial alone were put at more than £1m, a figure dwarfed by US legal fees.
Even worse, two years ago an arbitrator ruled his alleged sexual misconduct amounted to a breach of contract and he was told to pay £25.5 million to the producers of House of Cards – a production from which he was sacked.
Spacey lost an appeal to overturn the ruling last year, though whether or not he has handed over the cash remains unclear.
When the court asked Spacey about his financial situation, he answered: ‘I have got no money coming in and I have had a lot of legal bills… and I have not paid it all off and I still owe money.’
The actor sold his Los Angeles mansion for £8.5million shortly before the scandal broke.
The actor on screen in The Usual Suspects, a neo-noir mystery film directed by Bryan Singer
Spacey picked up the coveted best actor Oscar in 2000 for the dark drama American Beauty, when he played Lester Burnham
He still owns a £2.5million penthouse flat in an exclusive London tower block overlooking the Houses of Parliament – where he stayed during the court case.
As for the Old Vic, a London theatre that Spacey headed for 11 years – it is unknown whether the star will be reinstated.
Before the controversy broke Spacey had an assistant, an agent, a publicist, a manager, a personal trainer and a bodyguard.
In the wake of the scandal, his publicist, Staci Wolfe, quit working for him, as did his agents at CAA. Only Mr Lowenstein, appointed as his manager in 2016, remains.
Spacey began his career on the stage before trying his hand at film and TV, with great success.
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During his time on Broadway he picked up a Tony Award in 1991 for best featured actor in a play for his performance as ‘Uncle’ Louie in Lost In Yonkers, and the best actor Olivier Award in 1999 for The Iceman Cometh.
He was first awarded the Academy Award for best supporting actor in 1996 for his role as Roger ‘Verbal’ Kint in the mystery thriller The Usual Suspects.
A court sketch showing Spacey looking at the jury after being found not guilty
Spacey with his manager and longtime friend Evan Lowenstein (left), who he thanked today in a statement outside court
A few years later he picked up the coveted best actor Oscar in 2000 for the dark drama American Beauty, when he played Lester Burnham, an advertising executive who has a midlife crisis when he becomes infatuated with his teenage daughter’s best friend, played by Mena Suvari.
However, he is arguably best known for his starring role as Francis ‘Frank’ Underwood in hit Netflix political drama series House Of Cards.
He was awarded a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award and was nominated for a series of Emmys.
In 2017, following allegations of sexual misconduct against Spacey, streaming giant Netflix cut ties with the actor.
The sixth and final season of the show was released in 2018 without his involvement.
Spacey was also cut from Sir Ridley Scott’s thriller All The Money In The World after filming had wrapped, with Christopher Plummer having to reshoot scenes at the last minute when he was brought in to replace him.
Despite being found innocent, Spacey now faces an uphill battle to rebuild a career that was all but ended by the claims against him
Born in New Jersey to Kathleen and Thomas Fowler, Spacey previously described his father as a ‘white supremacist’ and ‘neo-Nazi’.
During a court appearance in New York last October, the actor was asked if he has been private about his personal life during his career.
‘I grew up in a very complicated family dynamic,’ he said, saying rants by his father when he was young led him to hate bigotry and intolerance.
‘My father was a white supremacist and neo-Nazi,’ Spacey added.
‘It meant that my siblings and I were forced to listen to hours and hours of my father lecturing us about his beliefs.’
Famous names mentioned in trial, from Elton John and Joan Collins to Judi Dench
A number of high-profile celebrities have featured throughout Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey’s sex offences trial.
Today, Spacey was found not guilty of nine sex offences on four men between 2001 and 2013, following a trial at Southwark Crown Court.
Jurors heard from global popstar Sir Elton John as he gave evidence from Monaco and were told how Spacey gifted a ping pong table to Dame Judi Dench.
Here are some of the famous faces mentioned during the trial:
Sir Elton John
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road singer Sir Elton John gave evidence via video-link from Monaco during the trial – telling jurors Spacey attended a ball at his house after flying in on a private jet and bought a Mini Cooper at the event.
Spacey is alleged to have made a man almost ‘come off the road’ following a painful crotch grab as he drove the actor to the lavish showbiz party.
Sir Elton recalled how Spacey had arrived in ‘white tie’ at the ball and had stayed the night.
Spacey previously told jurors he stored ‘the most expensive’ Mini Cooper ‘ever’ in Sir Elton’s garage.
Sir Elton John gave evidence via video-link from Monaco during the trial
Dame Judi Dench
Spacey spoke of having gifted a ping pong table to Dame Judi Dench after they worked on the film The Shipping News – in Nova Scotia together.
The Hollywood star told jurors he had ‘made it my mission… to try to make Judi laugh as much as I could’ as he said her husband had recently died.
Spacey said the property they stayed in while filming had a ping pong table and the pair ‘developed a lovely friendship’.
The actor said he took it upon himself to teach Dame Judi how to play and later gifted her a table of her own.
Dame Joan Collins
Dynasty star Dame Joan Collins featured as part of Spacey’s evidence from the witness box as he told jurors of an incident during one of his rehearsals.
The defendant said he had been asked to move his rehearsal time for Dame Joan because ‘there was an issue with her hair’.
Spacey said she ‘insisted on being able to rehearse first’.
Richard Harris
Spacey told jurors the first time he visited London as an actor, Harry Potter star Richard Harris put him up in an apartment for the several months he stayed in the city.
The defendant said Mr Harris helped him out with accommodation while he was starring in a 1986 production of Long Day’s Journey at the Haymarket Theatre.
Spacey told the jury: ‘It was his son’s apartment.’
Robert Sean Leonard
House and Dead Poet’s Society actor Robert Sean Leonard submitted a character reference to the court, describing Spacey as ‘positive, supportive and respectful’.
His words prompted an emotional response from the defendant, who reached for his tissues and dabbed his eyes while sat in the dock.
Mr Leonard said he had ‘never seen anyone’ lead an acting company better than Spacey.
Jack and Chris Lemmon
Spacey was described as ‘like another son’ to Some Like it Hot star Jack Lemmon during the character references read to the jury.
During the defendant’s evidence, he told the court he starred with Lemmon in the Haymarket Theatre production of Long Day’s Journey in 1986.
Lemmon’s son, Chris Lemmon, said because of Spacey’s relationship with the Mister Roberts actor, the defendant ‘became like a brother to me’.
David Furnish
Sir Elton’s partner David Furnish also gave evidence from Monaco during the trial about the ball Spacey attended in the early 2000s.
Speaking about Spacey’s attendance at the event, Mr Furnish said: ‘He was an Oscar-winning actor, there was a lot of excitement he was at the ball.’
Mr Furnish said a car was sold at the ball and ‘Kevin was the highest bidder’.
Van Kilmer
When Spacey began giving evidence, he detailed his childhood and the various schools he attended in the US.
He named one fellow pupil as Top Gun actor Val Kilmer and called him ‘highly skilled’ at drama and an ‘incredible actor’.
