Oscar favourite Gary Oldman ‘stole his ex-wife’s kids’ after car crash marriage
Gary Oldman is winning rave reviews from his role as Winston Churchill in movie Darkest Hour but his ex-wife Donya Fiorentino has hit out at the actor for his behaviour
OSCAR favourite Gary Oldman’s ex has accused him of wrecking her life after he won custody of their kids.
Donya Fiorentino, 50, divorced the actor after a four-year marriage rocked by booze, drugs and claims of physical abuse.
Gary, 59, eventually won custody of their two sons in a bitter 15-year wrangle.
Recovered addict Donya — speaking fully for the first time about the relationship — said: “I feel as though he stole my children and destroyed my life.
“There are many things in my life I regret.
“The biggest is that I lost my kids.”
So spiteful was their battle over Gulliver, now 20, and Charlie, 18, that even after she had been clean for eight years Gary still kept her from them.
Donya — the third of his five wives — recalled a chance meeting with Gary in LA.
She said: “I was driving along Melrose Avenue and did a U-turn into a parking lot.
“There was Gary, smoking a cigarette. I was stunned as I’d not seen him outside a courtroom in so many years.
“I wound down the window and asked him if I could see my sons.
“He just said, ‘No’ and turned the other way.
“It was all I could do not to cry. It felt I’d been punched in the heart.”
Gary won a Screen Actors Guild gong last month for playing Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour. He is red-hot favourite for an Oscar next month.
He was already a famed but troubled star when he and Donya met in 1996 — at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting.
Donya admits her addiction ruined their marriage but says Gary was also at fault.
She has accused him of beating her in front of their young kids and blowing fortunes on booze, drugs and hookers — which he denies.
Donya said: “I know I made mistakes but Gary wasn’t Mother Teresa.
“He’s a great actor. Was he a great husband? No.
“Our marriage was a giant car crash in which demented things happened.
“I lost self-esteem. I was broken.
“But I’ve been empowered by hearing other women speak up. When a woman gets her voice back, she gets her power back.
“I was a rotten mother and have to own up to that.
“I don’t blame Gary for everything. But it takes two to destroy something.
“I take blame for things I did. I played a big part in destroying my life.
“It’s something I have to live with.
“I’ve never spoken out before because I need to own my own behaviour.
“I’m talking now because I want my kids to understand what happened. I’m sorry I wasn’t the mother I should have been.
“I don’t want to paint myself as a victim. I’m sorry I screwed up and hurt people, especially my kids. But I didn’t do this alone.”
The model-turned-photographer says her early years with Gary — previously married to actresses Uma Thurman and Lesley Manville — were a romantic whirlwind.
On their first date he told her he wanted them to have children together and name a son Gulliver after a character in his favourite book.
She admitted: “We fell in love too quickly. We didn’t know each other and the problems were there from early on. We were strangers.
“We married four months later and I was pregnant.
“We even had each other’s names tattooed on our wedding fingers.
“After Gulliver was born Gary wheeled me out of hospital and said he couldn’t wait to have a second child.
“His mum Kathleen moved to be near us and we had wonderful family times. The first few years were blissful.”
Gulliver was just eight months old when Donya discovered she was pregnant again. Around the same time she was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.
After she gave birth to Charlie, Donya became hooked on painkillers to help with the condition.
That spiralled into her returning to booze and becoming addicted to cocaine.
The relationship then began to unravel. Donya said: “I was in pain. I couldn’t cope.
“Gary yelled at me constantly, saying other mothers coped without any problems.
“I became angry and resentful because of that.”
Her drug abuse even saw her overdose in front of six-year-old Phelix, her daughter from an earlier romance.
Donya wept: “She remains traumatised — something I’ll never forgive myself for.”
She finally filed for divorce in 2001, accusing Gary of beating her with a phone handset as she cradled Charlie — allegations he denies.
She claimed in legal papers: “I tried to dial 911. Gary grabbed the receiver and hit me in the face with it three or four times.
“It happened a long time ago but was incredibly traumatising to me because he hit me in front of the kids.”
The split sparked a long custody battle in which she lost her sons to Gary and Phelix to the child’s dad — Fight Club director David Fincher.
She was allowed to see them only with chaperones but the boys gradually lost their closeness to her.
Donya said: “When they got to around 12 to 14, they didn’t want to see me any more.”
However, four months ago, after she had a spell in hospital with diabetes complications, Gulliver got in touch again. They have since exchanged texts.
Donya, now living in Florida, said: “I’ll never be a big Hollywood star like their dad, but I’d love my kids to know me properly again.
“I’d love them to realise they can be proud of me as I’m sober and have turned my life around.”
Amazingly, she would love Gary to win an Oscar next month and said: “I wish him well.
“He’s a brilliant actor and deserves one.”
But her memories of their troubled time together are far less rosy.
She said: “I would rather be eaten by a great white shark than go through that marriage again.
“I have $20 in my purse. I’ve nothing else he can take from me.”