There are few Hollywood actresses as respected as Hilary Swank. And by 'respected' we mean 'hell-bent on making films so utterly depressing that their DVD cases are especially padded, making it harder for viewers to slash their wrists open on them.'
But winning a couple of Oscars for looking a bit mannish and making Billy Crystal cry doesn't automatically solve all your life's problems. At the start of the year, Hilary Swank split up with her husband, the infinitely less famous actor Chad Lowe. And now Hilary has spoken out about the root of their break-up – it's that old chestnut substance abuse.
Hilary Swank was the actress who had it all – a mantlepiece full of awards, a string of highly-successful instructional videos about the best way to chew your own tongue off and a happy marriage to Chad Lowe, a man so desperately unfamous that he makes Richard Blackwood look like Elvis Presley.
But this happiness wasn't meant to last long for Swank. Back in January, Hilary Swank and Chad Lowe announced their separation, only to decide to try and save their marriage a couple of weeks later. What happened next was shrouded in secrecy, something that infuriated the global legion of Hilary Swank fans who only want Hilary to be happy and to stop making such sodding depressing films. And the three people who know who Chad Lowe is were probably a bit infuriated too.
But now the silence has been broken – Hilary Swank has revealed that the reason her marriage broke up was Chad Lowe's secret substance abuse problem. And there's only one outlet for confessing such crushingly personal revelations about the man she spent eight years sharing her life with: Vanity Fair, baby! Swank told the magazine:
"I don't want to make it seem like that's the sole reason; there
were other factors. But that just kind of blew it open; it made
me look at things a lot deeper. It's an enormous obstacle to overcome and he's doing it. He's
living a sober life. I know how difficult it is and I'm really proud of
his sobriety."
At least Swank remembered to mention Chad Lowe during the humiliating chat about their split; and that's one-up on her Oscar acceptance speech. but discussing the break-up of a marriage to anyone – let alone because of a substance abuse problem – is a gut-wrenching thing to do. So full credit to Hilary Swank for having the bravery to do so while grinning her face off in a tiny bikini on a beach on the cover of a glossy magazine.
Read more:
Swank says husband's addiction hurt marriage – Reuters
[story by Stuart Heritage]