Kevin Spacey, once Hollywood’s most iconic villain, saw his downfall happen as swiftly as one of his sinister plots, with over 30 men accusing him of sexual assault and inappropriate behavior, branding him a “vile” predator. While he was acquitted of most charges in 2023, this legal victory did little to prevent a catastrophic financial collapse.
Recently, Spacey graced Piers Morgan’s controversial show, Uncensored, and delivered exactly what Morgan had hoped for: a raw, unfiltered rant. He lashed out at his accusers, tried to rationalize his overly “handsy” behavior that encroached on personal space, and added to the ever-growing list of royal controversies by involving King Charles. Amidst all this, Spacey broke down in tears, lamenting his dire financial straits.
In the interview, Spacey revealed that his Baltimore home, where he has lived since 2012 when he started House of Cards (from which he was dismissed following the 2017 allegations), is being sold to pay off his “many” millions in legal bills. “I have to go back to Baltimore and put all my things in storage. So the answer to that question is I’m not quite sure where I’m going to live now, but I’ve been in Baltimore … since we started shooting House of Cards there … I moved there in 2012.”
He added, “I can’t pay the bills that I owe. A couple of times I thought I was going to file [for bankruptcy], but we’ve managed to sort of dodge it, at least as of today.”
Since the first allegations surfaced, Spacey has changed his approach multiple times. Initially, he issued a not-quite-apology to Anthony Rapp, who accused him of sexual abuse when Rapp was 14. Then, amid the flood of accusations, Spacey came out as gay, hoping for support that was instead met with criticism for attempting to divert attention from the allegations.
Nowadays, Spacey sticks to denying the claims, portraying himself as a misunderstood flirt whose actions were wrongly interpreted— a theme he continued on Morgan’s show. “I have caressed people, I have been gentle with people, that is the way that I am. You’re making a pass at someone, you don’t want to be aggressive. You want to be gentle. You want to see if they’re going to respond positively. They should let you know they don’t want to do it so that you can understand it’s non-consensual and stop.”
Spacey also took a swipe at Channel 4’s documentary Spacey Unmasked, calling it “a dying network’s one-sided ‘documentary’ about me in their desperate attempt for ratings.” Moreover, Spacey’s legal troubles are far from over as he is set to face another trial in the U.K. for a lawsuit from an anonymous man who alleges the actor sexually assaulted him in August 2008.
It’s a long fall from the heights of Hollywood stardom to a future shrouded in uncertainty, but Kevin Spacey remains defiant, if not exactly beloved.
