Former actress Caitlin O’Heaney is coming forward after 30 years with allegations against Val Kilmer that the actor punched her during an audition for Oliver Stone’s “The Doors” while the director watched.
BuzzFeed News spoke to O’Heaney, who has decided to break the confidentiality agreement she signed as part of a $24,500 settlement with a company attached to the film.
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O’Heaney, who starred in the ’80s TV series “Tales of the Gold Monkey”, told BuzzFeed News that in 1989 she auditioned for the lead female role in the film about the life of Jim Morrison. Meg Ryan was eventually cast in the role.
During one of the audition scenes, which featured a verbal argument between herself and Val Kilmer’s character, the actor struck her in the face, knocking her to the ground. “When I got to the room and Val Kilmer picked me up and shaked me, throwing me down to the floor,” O’Heaney said, “Stone just stood there the whole time laughing.”
Later, Stone walked her out the door, apparently saying, “That got kind of wild.”
“I went down to my car and I cried for about 20 minutes,” O’Heaney said.
Though the actress eventually settled with the filmmakers and signed an agreement to never discuss her allegations publicly, she now regrets that decision. “I was so traumatized that, against my better judgment, I signed that document, which says I can never speak about this,” she said. “If this was something that happened nowadays, I wouldn’t sign it.”
O’Heaney also claims her acting career took a downturn after the alleged assault. “My agent would call me and say, ‘Absolutely nobody will see you. We can’t even get you a reading or an audition. You’re dead.'”
“Women have come together, saying, ‘We’re not going to be f–ked by you,’” O’Heaney said, referring to the dozens of stories of women coming forward with assault, abuse and harassment allegations in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal. “I finally have the confidence to speak about this. It’s too long that I’ve sat on this story.”
Risa Bramon Garcia, the casting director on “The Doors” and one of the other people in the room during the alleged incident, denies O’Heaney’s version of events. “It was way blown out of proportion,” she said. “I am not somebody who takes this stuff lightly. I can tell the difference between something that’s abusive and a moment that got carried away.”
ET Canada has reached out to Val Kilmer’s lawyers for a statement.
