The recent discovery of divorce papers related to Charlie Chaplin reveal details about his abusive marital life with his second wife, Lita Grey.
Charlie Chaplin was a silent film actor that became famous from, amongst other things, his on-screen persona, “The Tramp.” The Tramp was a childish good-hearted vagrant that attempted to act like a gentleman.
However, while the on-screen persona depicted one thing, the actor’s life was very different. Chaplin met Lita Grey when she was 8 years old. When she was 16 Chaplin impregnated her. Chaplin was 35 at the time.
Under California law, Chaplin could have been prosecuted for statutory rape (this is still the case today). He pleaded with Grey to have an abortion, but Grey’s mother told Chaplin that if he didn’t marry Grey, he would be reported to the police. Fearing prosecution, Chaplin had a discreet marriage in Mexico on November 25, 1924. Their child was born the following May.
Chaplin is reported to have told his friends that getting married was better than going to prison. He is also reported as having told Grey, “This marriage won’t last long. I will make you so damn sick of me that you won’t want to live with me.”
In 1927, Grey filed for divorce. While the basic information related to the divorce was public at the time, original divorce papers were recently discovered in an abandoned bank in Los Angeles. The papers are now being auctioned.
In the papers, Grey alleged that Chaplin made “revolting, degrading and offensive” sexual requests and forced her to perform illegal sex acts that he had apparently performed with “five prominent moving-picture women” before the couple got married. This included such things as asking for a threesome. Grey was allegedly told by Chaplin, “All married people do those kinds of things. You are my wife and you have to do what I want you to do.”
A book written by Peter Ackroyd released in 2014 on the life of Charlie Chaplin indicated that Grey’s lawyers threatened to release the names of the actresses, some of whom were married.
The divorce ultimately settled and Grey received $600,000, which was, at the time, the largest divorce settlement in American history.
One of many interesting lessons that comes from Chaplin’s story is that everyone, even the famous and widely loved, can have problems, be abusive, or be sexual predators. Unfortunately, these are common problems. If you are the victim of domestic violence, or your spouse, or significant other treats you horribly, or sexually abuses your children, you absolutely should not remain in that situation. While I do not advocate that everyone should run to get a divorce, the existence of domestic violence or sex abuse is a reason to leave. However, a number of reasons, it’s often a difficult thing to walk away from.