That depends entirely on your definition of ‘horrible human being’. Charlie Chaplin did have a penchant for much younger women. His first wife was sixteen; he nearly thirty. His second wife he knocked up when she was fifteen, then married to prevent being locked up for having sex with a minor.
Wife number one gave him one son who died young. Wife number two gave him two sons. Number three, though young, failed to provide Chaplin with an heir so he quickly bored of her. Then, when he was in his fifties already, he began a relationship with Oona O’Neill, aged seventeen. He married her when she was eighteen.
Charlie Chaplin’s whole life seems to have been a revolving door of very young girlfriends and spouses, but the main thing he seemed to have been after wasn’t just their pretty faces, but their youth and fertility — the third time, for Chaplin, was charm. As Oona got pregnant almost immediately, and ended up giving birth to eight children, bringing the total number of surviving little Chaplin’s to ten.
The man left his mark on the world, and he did so well. He left behind a body of work that was, and remains, truly impressive. At the same time he also viewed teenaged lovers as the fountain of eternal youth. His final wife, Oona, survived Chaplin by only fourteen years, despite being almost forty years younger than her famous husband. She ended up dying of alcoholism, depressed and kind of sad to never have had a childhood. She was the only one of his wives who lasted until his death, and the main reason for her ‘staying power’ was the many children she gave him. He loved showing off his numerous offspring to his many famous house guests in their Swiss home, beaming with pride at his own prowess.
This was the recurring theme in Chaplin’s life — he seduced a woman, a very young woman, barely out of her childhood. And he would take the finest years of her life, then grow tired of her. It was enjoyable for him, but it can’t have been easy for the girls. He fathered his last child at 73… and I don’t think he did an awful lot of parenting, at that point. It kept Chaplin young, but it prematurely aged his widow.
He was a great filmmaker, Charlie Chaplin. An artist. An actor who forever altered the world of film. And he was also an unapologetic lover of teenagers. Even in his day and age it raised a few eyebrows and in today’s view, he’s quite the pervert for it.
0 Comments