Natalie Wood was sexually assaulted by Kirk Douglas as a teen, sister claims
Natalie Wood’s sister has revealed bombshell details about the longstanding Hollywood rumor that the late star was sexually assaulted as a teen by a much older actor at a Los Angeles hotel. In her upcoming memoir “Little Sister: My Investigation into the Mysterious Death of Natalie Wood,” Lana Wood alleges that the mystery assailant was screen icon Kirk Douglas, the AP reported.
“It was like an out-of-body experience,” Lana, 75, recalled the “Rebel Without a Cause” actress telling her years later.
The sordid incident allegedly occurred in the summer of 1955 at the Chateau Marmont, where the girls’ mother, Maria Zakharenko, had set up a meeting between teenage Natalie and the “Spartacus” star, who was in his late-30s at the time.
Zakharenko had hoped that “many doors might be thrown open for her, with just a nod of his famous, handsome head on her behalf,” according to the book, which also explores the circumstances surrounding her 1981 death, out Nov. 9.
However, when the “Miracle on 34th Street” actress returned from her celebrity encounter, her sister knew something wasn’t right, the AP reported.
Lana, who was 8 at the time, painted the disturbing scene: “It seemed like a long time passed before Natalie got back into the car and woke me up when she slammed the door shut,” she wrote in the book, according to the AP. “She looked awful. She was very disheveled and very upset, and she and Mom started urgently whispering to each other.”
The author added, “I couldn’t really hear them or make out what they were saying. Something bad had apparently happened to my sister, but whatever it was, I was apparently too young to be told about it.”
However, it wasn’t until the siblings were both adults that Natalie finally disclosed what allegedly went down.
The “West Side Story” star reportedly described Douglas taking her to his hotel suite, where “he hurt me, Lana,” she allegedly told her sister.
“I was terrified, I was confused,” the multiple Oscar nominee told her sister, according to “Little Sister,” which primarily focuses on Natalie Wood’s mysterious death when she was 43 years old. Although it was ruled a drowning, many, including Lana, have implicated her then-husband, Robert Wagner, in the tragic incident.
Following the alleged sexual assault, Natalie and her mother allegedly agreed to never publicly accuse Douglas as it would destroy the budding star’s career, Lana recalled.
Despite promising her sister she’d never publicly discuss the incident, Lana now believes enough time has passed since their alleged conversation.
“With no one still around to protect, I’m sure she’ll forgive me for finally breaking that promise,” she wrote.
In fact, the rumors ran so rampantly that when Douglas died in 2020 at 103 years old, Natalie Wood’s name trended alongside his on Twitter.
In his 1988 memoir, “The Ragman’s Son,” Douglas mentions meeting Natalie Wood for the first time while driving home one night. The icon was allegedly stopped at a red light when “a pretty little girl wearing a suede jacket hopped out” of the car in front of him and asked him to sign her jacket, per his book.
“As I obliged, the woman who was driving got out and introduced her,” the “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” star described. “‘This is my daughter. She’s in movies, too. Her name is Natalie Wood.’”
He reported he saw “her many times afterward, before she died in that cruel accident.”
The Presidential Medal of Freedom winner admitted being a serial philanderer and an insatiable womanizer, the AP reported, and his sexual exploits were well known throughout Hollywood.
“I’m a sonofabitch, plain and simple,” Douglas admitted in his autobiography.
