Warren Beatty Is Being Sued For Coercing Minor Into Sex 50 Years Ago
Warren Beatty is being sued for coercion in an incident from 50 years ago by a woman named Kristina Charlotte Hirsch, who was a minor at the time.
Actor, writer, director, and producer Warren Beatty is easily one of the most famous celebrities to come out of Hollywood’s Golden Era, helming films that have stood the test of time. Known for his high-profile relationships with female actors throughout his career, like Madonna, Leslie Caron, Jane Fonda, and Diane Keaton, Beatty has been married to Annette Bening since 1992. Now, Variety reports that 85-year-old Warren Beatty is currently being sued for coercing sexual intercourse with a minor in 1973 when the alleged victim was 14 or 15 years old.
Filing the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court this week, alleged victim Kristina Charlotte Hirsch decided not to name Warren Beatty by name but referenced the defendant as a nominee for the Academy Award for his acting role as the titular Clyde in 1967’s Bonnie and Clyde. Beatty starred in the film alongside Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard, Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder, and Estelle Parsons, and it became one of Beatty’s signature roles of his career. Hirsch alleges that Beatty gave her his phone number in 1973, invited her to his hotel room, and “used his position and status as an adult and a Hollywood movie star to coerce sexual contact” with her.
So far, Warren Beatty, his representatives, and his attorneys have not responded to requests from Variety for comments, but the lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles as a direct result of California’s newer law that accounts for a “lookback window.” The 2019 law reviews claims of child sexual abuse within three years of the law going into effect, examining cases that would have normally been barred by other statutes of limitations laws. That window is set to expire on January 1, 2023, so Kristina Charlotte Hirsch most likely wanted to file the lawsuit before the window closed altogether.
In 1973, Warren Beatty would have been 35 years old and preparing to star in The Parallax View, as well as the highly acclaimed movie Shampoo, which was released in 1975 and costarred Julie Christie, Goldie Hawn, Lee Grant, and Carrie Fisher. Long talked about in trade publications and gossip magazines for his social status as a philanderer for most of his career, Beatty ended up marrying actor Annette Bening after first meeting one another on the set of Bugsy. Since then, the couple has welcomed four children into their family, and Beatty has largely stayed out of the spotlight as an actor and director to make room for Bening’s career.
However, Warren Beatty is well-known for his lengthy career in numerous positions within the film industry, including a well-deserved win of the Academy Award for Best Director for the 1981 historical epic Reds. In the 1990s, Beatty’s career slowed down a lot, but not before directing and starring in 1998’s Bulworth alongside Halle Berry, a satire comedy on politics, race, and the ugly side of corporate America.
Most recently, he filmed the 2016 romantic comedy Rules Don’t Apply about businessman Howard Hughes, which costarred Annette Bening, Lily Collins, and Matthew Broderick, but the filmmaker has not stepped in front of or behind the camera ever since.
