Gary Oldman's son has stepped up to defend his dad after the Darkest Hour star's ex-wife slammed Oscars voters for giving an alleged abuser a prize.
The Brit claimed gold for his turn as Winston Churchill at the Academy Awards on Sunday (04Mar18), and his bitter former wife Donya Fiorentino wasted no time in reminding the world she had accused him of domestic abuse in 2001, claiming the actor thew a phone at her.
Oldman maintained he and Donya were both fighting for the phone and it struck her as he let go.
Now the former couple's 20-year-old son Gulliver has stepped into the family feud, to call his mum a liar.
"I was there at the time of the 'incident', so I’d like to make this radiantly clear: it didn’t happen," he writes in an open letter. "Anyone who says it did is lying."
Gulliver adds: "It has been troubling and painful to see these false allegations against my father being written about again, especially after this was all settled years ago. There is good reason that these specific articles and accusations subsided years ago. In my eyes it is disgusting that so called 'journalists' have seen fit to spread and perpetuate the lie.
"I have grown up in the world we are accustomed to now, where people are guilty until proven innocent... In the case of my father, there is only innocence. There never has been any guilt."
Oldman's son blames a reporter at the Daily Mail for revisiting the forgotten family drama in "a very recent interview of my mother... despite all of this having been thrown away and discredited as false years ago."
He adds, "For me to write this letter is direct proof of this. Custody of children is not given to a wife beater, and under most circumstances, hardly ever a man. My having lived, full time with my father should be in itself, proof enough."
Calling the actor "my one and true guiding light" and "my only hero", the 20-year-old adds, "He is the man I aspire one day to become. If I could only become even half as great and half as pure. I was granted the good graces of his fatherhood as a child to be raised by him and only him. For that I am eternally grateful every hour of every day. I owe him the world and I owe him my life."
He goes on to claim his mother is "a sad and very troubled person", insisting she didn’t "teach me how to be a part of it", adding, "This lie, all of her lies, things she has been perpetuating and living in as 'her truth'... has brought about so much pain and hardship for my father and for all of us.
"I want only to protect my father’s character, as a person and as an actor. I know he is a wonderfully kind man, gifted beyond belief, a man who wouldn’t trade anything for the love and happiness of his family. This torment should have ended 16 years ago. In such a momentous year for his career, my father should finally be able to enjoy himself. I hope that we can please make that a possibility. The only way to achieve that is to stop repeating, stop sharing, and stop believing the lies."
