The late legendary actor, who died last July, aged 80, is also branded a disgusting pervert by his Tahitian-born ex-wife Tarita Terpia in her life story Marlon, My Love And My Torment.
The 63-year-old actress - who first met the Apocalypse Now star in 1961on the set of classic movie Mutiny On The Bounty before marrying him in 1962 - claims Brando xesually abused their daughter Cheyenne, who hanged herself in 1995.
According to Tarita, Cheyenne wrote in her diary that her father used to massage her "as if he wanted me to pretend we were making love".
In the book, Tarita - who also had a son Teihotu, now 42, with Brando - speculates that the abuse could have contributed to her daughter's decision to commit suicide later in her life.
Just before she died, Cheyenne's boyfriend was killed by Christian Brando, the actor's son from an earlier marriage.
The ageing actress - who divorced Brando in 1972 - claims her life with the Oscar-winning star was a living hell and describes him as a man of violently changing moods, capable of switching in an instant from tenderness to physical or mental cruelty.
Speaking in an interview last month, Tarita said: "We lived terrible tragedies and we all suffered a lot."
Here is the transcript of the interview Cheyenne gave talking about this when she was alive.
Glad they got to throw in “aging” when describing her 🙄🙄🙄
This popped out for me too! I know this subject is absolutely terrible and heartbreaking, but god they can’t even let the woman talk about the trauma without throwing it out there that’s she not a 20 year old anymore. How dare this older woman talk! /s
you mean how dare this older woman *EXIST. like women are not allowed to age in our society. you should either look 30 with flawless features or be totally grandma wrinkled. there is apparently no in-between. and if you DO look in-between, society will either make you feel like crap about aging until you get to the “cute” old person stage or make you feel like crap so you get plastic surgery. women just cant win
Look 30? Lol try 16.
lol truth. im 22 and a girl i graduated high school with already got botox. cosmetic botox. not for medical reasons. like, on what? where could you possibly have been wrinkled enough to warrant that? and she probably doesnt even realize that she just began a lifelong cycle, of getting work done, loving it, then the insecurities creep back in, so you go back for more. if you’re an insecure person to begin with it can be hard to know when to stop with cosmetic enhancements. add on society shaming you for aging which literally every fucking person on this planet does and it’s a recipe for disaster. i cant even blame people who get trapped in that cycle, it’s really not their fault
You mean women AGE?! Disgusting! /s
Poor woman. Aging as a woman is hard enough without all the pointing out and age talk like we’re useless after 25 (insert an eyeroll here)
Right? I’ve never seen “aging” used to describe an older male actor.
I feel like it was thrown around a bit when Al Pacino had his baby.
That’s actually related to the subject though. Someone in their 80’s shouldn’t be having a child, so yes it’s obviously going to be talked about. Tarita Is speaking about an ex molesting her daughter. Her age or looks have absolutely no bearing to this conversation.
you’re truly not allowed to age as a woman in this world. or, at least, you’re not allowed to let people KNOW you’re aging. think about your local news or weather. the second the women start going grey, or getting wrinkles, suddenly you see less of them and conveniently there’s a newer younger girl being shown more! meanwhile the men could be on life support, like spongebob “CHOCOLATE?” lookin ass, and they’re still on camera. insane
It's always "accomplished" or the like. eyeroll to the heavens
Or “veteran”
Aging should only be referred to cheese. How misogynist of the author.
What about wine?
What a stupid descriptor too. Unless you're dead, who isn't ageing?
Keith Richards.
Although admittedly we can’t be 100% sure he is classified as currently living.
So much misogyny everywhere I look...
What the hell is up with that, anyway? Is she a wine or a cheese?
As if there’s anyone among us who ISN’T?!
Seriously! They might as well have said “breathing”!
And they misspelled it
I think that’s the British spelling
Ew but also my bad then lol
I wondered about that because I’m Irish but have lived in the US for a few years and my spelling is now all over the place 😂. I just went with what my phone said.
I literally hit the back button when I read that and had to take a minute smh
Amidst all this other horrible shit, as though we couldnt conclude for ourselves that she might be an older woman.
Not shocked he’s r*ped a costar on camera
That story is so repulsive wtf
Poor Maria. So disgusting and the director
still doesnt’didn’t think he did anything wrong.Edit: forgot Bertolucci died
Glad that pos Bertolucci died. Hopefully he’s rotting in hell alongside Brando.
How can you be so disgusting and not think that you're fucked in the head. Insane people.
Jfc. The intention behind it. And completely dismissive with that “in a way”… That is absolutely vile.
If you're a director and you want your actors to be legitimately vulnerable, scared, humiliated, violated etc then you don't want to be filming actors at all, you want to be filming snuff.
Filming rape
“I wanted her reaction as a girl” … wtf is that even supposed to mean?! What two disgusting shitty human beings those men were
Girl as in ‘small young, frightened and with no say in the matter’ = that’s attractive. Woman as in ‘keen to partake in sexual behaviour with you’ = not attractive. Those kind of men 🤮
YUCK
They are actors ffs. They can act if you just tell them to. There is no excuse for this
How disgusting. She’s an actress. It’s her job to pretend. You’re not supposed to make it real so she doesn’t have to pretend.
But they'd be exactly the type to insist a white actor can play a non white character because acting.
The director saying he doesn't regret letting it happen is revolting
The director was nominated for an academy award. His accolades were more important than this poor girls life.
As a big classic film fan, and an almost-even-bigger Godfather fan, this was what turned me off of Brando for life. I can't and won't ever look at him the same, and have lost all taste for his movies. Luckily, The Godfather II was always my favourite, so when I get an itch to rewatch, I head straight past the first one.
As talented as he was, he was just an awful fucking person. Even all the obvious things aside he used to constantly shit on his co-stars for not being good actors - a good whack of it seemed to come from insecurity because it was people like Anthony Quinn - used to have the crew on his movies do things like move furniture around his house and totally waste their time and demean them. There's a famous story of Richard Harris massively admiring him until he worked with him on one movie and then any admiration he had for him was gone. And how he treated Rita Moreno tells you everything about him as a person.
Val Kilmer had a similar experience with Brando. He talks about it in his documentary.
Not at all surprised. Everything I've heard about how Brando treated and spoke to Kilmer on Doctor Moreau makes it sound like projection.
I'm not entirely sure who was the problem here, because a lot of actors and directors have said that Kilmer was a nightmare to work with, on this film and others. Neither seem to have been easy though.
I’m pretty sure the only modern actor that got along with Brando was Depp. Tells you all you need to know.
Depp's two idols were Brando and Hunter S. Thompson, both the epitome of "cool when you're fifteen then you realize how fucking awful they are." It's actually a bit sad how consciously he's tried to emulate both.
Couldn't agree more. Vile human.
Richard Harris wasn't the easiest person either, at least later in life. Brando sounds like he was terrible to work with though.
He wasn't at all, but admittedly so on his part. To be honest that's why I cited it; if he thinks you're a disgrace then you must be really something.
“I wanted her reaction as a girl, not as an actress.”
He said. “I didn’t want Maria to act her humiliation, her rage, I wanted Maria to feel … the rage and humiliation. Then she hated me for all (of her) life.”
WTF that director is sick 🤬🤮
Yeah he is literally saying outright, that he wanted to film a rape, not a fake rape. I'm sorry, how the fuck? Is anyone capable of defending this?
Absolutely fucking disgusting. Revolting.
what the actual fuck
that poor girl and never got an apology, “a little rape”
Yikes
Yep my thoughts exactly, I believe her.
Nothing to not believe when the director himself admits to making it happen
Yep, and still had no consequences.
Unfortunately not surprised fucking evil world we live in. Women and girls are hated and aren’t safe
The fact that you're at the top of the controversial comments on this post is depressing. Why is it so hard to believe that this man was a piece of shit??
Because on the flip side he was considered to be one of the best actors because of films like Godfather so all his problematic shit went unheard of
And then that very same director of the movie didn't show Brando's penis, because he identified so much with him, that it made him ashamed, as if it were him naked. Yet he didn't have any qualms about showing a 19 yo girl in full nudity, plotting to film the girl's SA, actually doing it and then later on saying how he doesn't regret it.
Pieces of shit, both of them. If there is a hell, I hope they're rotting in it.
And she was 19, and he was 48???! FCK
Wow. How come this isn’t bigger news?
Just want to put it out there that he didn't actually physically rape the actress during this scene.
Wow, that interview with Cheyenne is intense. I'm amazed this isn't reported on more.
For those who don't know, Cheyenne eventually committed suicide.
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Cheyenne: I have always been the "sacrifice" of Marlon Brando, his lamb for sacrifice, for his own personal happiness. I have said that I have been sexually abused by my father. My first memories go back to age seven.
Reporter: Did you tell your mother about it?
Cheyenne: No, I never told anybody about it, not even my mother.
Reporter: How would you describe these "sexual abuses"?
Cheyenne: My father acted in a strange way toward me, frequently touching my breast or giving me, on my bed, some massages, bouncing me on the bed as if he wanted me to mime for him the gestures of making love, like I'm having sex. He continued touching my breast even when I already was with Dag. To a certain degree, it was also a game on his part, and as a child I didn't always understand what was happening. He was also nice to me, taking walks, talking to me, but I was also very angry with him, because I remember now what he was doing to me.
Reporter: What was it like living on Tetiaroa? Do you remember being with your father there?
Cheyenne: I think my father was an alcoholic when he was there. I was told that he would drink whiskey and eat a mango at the same time. I lived on Tetiaroa for about two years. The longest he came was for about two or three months. . . .
Reporter: When your father brought you to Los Angeles in August 1992, did you want to come?
Cheyenne: Yes, but I thought it was for just a visit. I didn't know I was supposed to stay a long time.
Reporter: You didn't know he had bought a house for you?
Cheyenne: No, he didn't talk about that. Maybe he thought he could isolate me.
Reporter: Why did he want to do that?
Cheyenne: I think he was worried I would say something wrong, or something I didn't mean.
Reporter: What was it like living with him during those months?
Cheyenne: He often went in his room and put on a Do Not Disturb sign. That was when he did his "exercise." He said he sat in the dark room and played tapes. He said they were "autosuggestion" tapes. I don't know what that is, but he was listening to voices, I think his own voice, for hours, at three in the morning. I didn't see him do this, but he always talked about it. . . his meditating.
Reporter: Is he searching for his soul?
Cheyenne: I don't think he has a soul, so he is not searching for it. He is a great "manitou," that's Tahitian for guru. He likes to lead people . . .
Reporter: Yes, people see him as a leader who has helped the Indians, black people, the underdog . . .
Cheyenne: Well, they should see him walking around in his pajamas with a hole in his pants, a hole that is not supposed to be there. They would see that he just doesn't care when he comes and knocks on my door all the time. He is a hypocrite.
Thats because she was diagnosed with mental illness and so his people chalked it up to that. And emphasized how close they were and how he’d always supported her. It’s always been seen as a woman spiraling, saying ‘outlandish’ things.
I never put it past him though. I have a book by his best friend George Englund and even he said that Brando was an asshole.
english is not my first language and i am autistic, so it is easy for me to miss clues in a text. can somebody help me understand it a little better?
did that reporter really just said "but he helped the underdogs!" in response to her sharing her experience of abuse? did he mean it as "people didn't expect him to be an incestual creep bc he seems so nice, what a shocking revelation" or as "your abuse doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things bc that man is famous and he helped some people outside of family"?
I think the reporter was just responding to Cheyenne’s comment that Marlon was a guru and likes to lead people, by saying “yes, this is what I’ve heard to affirm the statement you just made”. It’s very awkward to read in the context of the full interview, but maybe there wasn’t any ill intent at the time and it was just a poorly chosen way to keep the conversation flowing.
Also, the original interview was probably in French so maybe some tone and specific vocabulary is lost in translation.
thank you. that is why i am asking bc i genuinely can't understand the intent and the purpose of that sentence. it seems random, even in the context of the guru comparison. or maybe i am just too autistic to understand it. i get stumbled by sentences like this all the time, and can't understand them fully no matter how i turn them in my head.
thank you for saying it is originally in french, bc it makes sense of the general awkwardness of the conversation as a whole.
thanks again a lot!
I do think the reporter was trying to subtly counter her stuff by saying what a good guy he was. A lot of people at the time seemed to think she was “crazy” and there was a general culture of protecting men like this.
Yes, both
This should have a trigger warning
The thread was already tagged with a trigger warning when it was posted.
How horrifying!
That poor woman. No wonder she had such a troubled life. Heartbreaking.
Those tapes she's referring to were later turned into a documentary.
Listen to Me Marlon https://youtu.be/JgoFFzy0z8k?si=iEMk7d6y64b3CUBZ
Considering what he did to Maria Schneider in Last Tango In Paris, I believe this and good God what a monster.
Watch out, someone went after me with PARAGRAPHS of rage when I mentioned that once.
Everything about Brando's life story gives me the creep. Like people still don't even know how many children he had. He acknowledged 11 in his will, but he likely had dozens more. He impregnated and abandoned a lot of "exotic" young girls all over the world and left them to their own devices. He was a vile, narcissistic and crazy man who thought of himself as some sort of twisted modern-day Genghis Khan.