Since the alleged assault took place in 1955, it has been one of Tinsel Town’s most notorious rumors. According to her younger sister Lana, it was legendary actor Douglas who perpetrated the assault.In her forthcoming book, Little Sister (which will be released next week), Lana recalls: “I remember Natalie looking especially attractive as my mother and I drove away from the Chateau Marmont driveway that night.”
The young actress is said to have been injured on the set of The Searchers in the summer of 1955 while filming. She was only 17 years old at the time. Douglas was 38 years old.
Lana also reveals that her mother, Maria Zakharenko, had planned the meeting with Douglas to help Natalie’s career believing that she would become more popular by association.
“However,” she continues, “her mother wanted many doors to be flung open for her with a simple nod of his famous, handsome head!”
“It seemed like a long period of time passed before Natalie got back into the car and woke me up when she slammed the door shut,” Lana, who was eight at the time, recalls.
“She looked terrible. She was extremely disheveled and distressed, and she and my mother started urgently whispering to one other. I couldn’t hear much of what they were saying since they were too low for me to understand. Something horrible must have happened to my sister, but whatever it was, I was apparently too young to be informed about.”
It was not until she grew up that Natalie, who died in November 1981 at the age of 43, revealed what had occurred. She recounted being brought into Douglas’s quarters as if from another place: “He hurt me, Lana. It felt like I was watching myself from afar. I was frightened and perplexed.”
Lana, who is now 75 years old, remembers their mother and sister agreeing that revealing Douglas’s guilt would ruin Natalie’s career. Their mother advised them to “suck it up” according to the book.
Lana recalls promising her sister that she would not discuss Douglas’s alleged assault with anyone.
Following the famed actor’s demise last year, Natalie Wood’s name trended with his on Twitter, like it had done after Burt Lancaster’s death.
“I couldn’t keep quiet any longer. With everyone else gone, there was no one to defend her, so I’m sure she’ll forgive me for breaking my promise after all this time,” Lana adds.
Douglas’s son, actor Michael, responded to the book’s allegations, stating: “They may both rest in peace.”
The bulk of the book is dedicated to Natalie’s death, which occurred after she drowned in strange circumstances on a weekend cruise off the California coast.
After years of study and more witnesses coming forth, the death has been reclassified as a murder.
Robert Wagner, the husband of Wood’s at the time, has been implicated in the murder. The yacht trip was a regular occurrence for them. According to several sources, including The National Enquirer and People magazine, he is considered a person of interest in connection with Natalie’s death.
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