Why did Brendan Fraser stop acting? The history of abuse that distanced him from Hollywood

 Why did Brendan Fraser stop acting? The history of abuse that distanced him from Hollywood

The Oscar winner for best actor has a peculiar story where adversity has been his life impulse

Brendan Fraser, the recent Oscar winner for best actor for his performance in The Whale, is undoubtedly one of the most popular in the industry, but he hasn't always had the same shine. 

His recent visit to the Venice film festival gave him many joys, such as the several-minute ovation he received for what he had done in his new film in which he plays a literature teacher who must be at home because he is morbidly obese and weighs 270 kilos.

 A character who is a metaphor for his life. For years Fraser was withdrawn, as well as locked in a spiral of grief and depression.

His name was generally attached to comedy, with blockbusters like 'George of the Jungle', 'To Hell with the Devil' and all three installments of 'The Mummy'. But at the same time he was making films with a different tone, for another audience, such as 'Gods and Monsters' and 'Crash', the Paul Haggis film that won the Oscar in 2006.

When the cinema closed the door on him, he made television, but he felt separated from the industry. His professional problems were added to his personal ones and he fell into a deep depression caused by the divorce from the also actress Afton Smith. 

They married in 1998 and had three children, but in 2007, a year after the youngest was born, they separated. The process was long and hard, the actor claimed that his income had dropped and that he could barely meet his medical expenses, for which she accused him of lying.

Meanwhile, some versions pointed out that Brendan refused to have doubles for action scenes and that the blows and injuries he suffered in action filming took their toll. Broken ribs, broken knees, back injuries and even vocal cord problems. The list is huge and very painful, he was in and out of the operating room for almost 8 years:

 "During that period I didn't want to reject any project, because I thought I had to work non-stop to meet family expenses." But all this seemed to have no end since he also suffered the loss of his mother, who died of cancer.

he most terrible episode of his life was the sexual abuse he suffered in 2003

The actor remembers 2003 as one of the most terrible of his life, but he didn't reveal it until 15 years later, encouraged by the rise of the #Me Too movement. Fraser was brave and recounted that the famous journalist Philip Berk, who was president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, abused him: 

"He grabbed my buttock and with one of his fingers touched my perineum," he said, pointing to the The area between the anus and the genitals. "Then he started moving it and I panicked. I felt like a little kid." Berk denied it and wrote a letter saying that "he didn't do it on purpose and he was sorry." That event played against him and the movie mecca marked Brendan.

After that dramatic stage, the now best actor for the Academy, has had three very good years professionally and personally. After the break he had between 2014 and 2019, he has returned to work and shot 'The Poison Rose', 'Line of Descent', 'The Secret of Karma', 'No Sudden Move', 'Batgirl' and 'The Whale', and he has already stamped his signature on 'Killers of the Flower Moon' and 'Brothers' for the current 2023.