Martin Lawrence Dont You Know Kmow Good
The Tragedy of the Comic
Martin Lawrence Is Torn. Under the Easygoing Star a Troubled Thespian Has Emerged.
By Sharon WaxmanSpecial to The Washington Post
June 24, 1997
Sometimes Petitioner is himself and sometimes he is not. I can never be sure. -- From a statement by his ex-wife requesting a restraining order against Martin Lawrence
LOS ANGELES -- In that location are ii people at war inside comedian Martin Lawrence.
One is a wiry, raunch-minded, fast-talking, off-kilter smartass, a little guy with a big mouth and a keen eye for a weak spot. A guy who all the same wouldn't injure a fly, say those who know him.
The other is a ranting, incoherent menace. A gun-wielding madman. A handbasket case.
The two are locked in battle inside a homo who a few years ago was ordinarily referred to in the national press equally "the next Eddie Murphy" or, alternately, "the next Richard Pryor."
It'south nonetheless unclear which Martin Lawrence will prevail. One has a brilliant Hollywood career with a movie coming out next month. The other appears to need professional help, is unable to control his rage amid friends or strangers. Which is the real one? Impossible to say. Only one thing seems clear: They cannot both survive.
Melodramatic, you say? Hollywoodian? Well, possibly. Certainly it wouldn't be the first time that overnight success, easy fame and untold riches destroyed a perfectly tolerable Hollywood talent. The Rise and Fall of -- take your option: James Dean, Roman Polanski, Richard Pryor, River Phoenix -- is by now a well-worn morality tale whose lesson seems never to be learned by those who demand information technology virtually. Money. Drugs. Women. Cars. Fans. Too much as well soon.
Hollywood doesn't care: In that location'll e'er be some other Martin Lawrence. Worse however is that Lawrence may not even vest in this category. But it is hard non to wonder about him later on the recent, much-publicized events that take plagued the actor, who rose to stardom from the comedy clubs of Washington.
In May 1996 Lawrence was detained by police after being plant wandering in the middle of a busy Fifty.A. intersection, mucus smeared across his face, raving, "Fight the power!" with a loaded handgun in his pocket. Three months later he was arrested at Burbank Airport for trying to board a plane to Phoenix while carrying a loaded 9mm Beretta. He told police he thought guns were allowed on interstate flights. No charges were filed in either instance. And then last October, a month after he filed for divorce from Patricia Lawrence, his wife of 20 months, she won a restraining order against him later, among other things, she told a approximate that he threatened to kill her and her family.
Matters accept gone downhill from there. In January Lawrence's Television co-star, Tisha Campbell, filed a suit alleging a design of sexual harassment and battery, which he denied. In March Lawrence was arrested and charged with misdemeanor battery for having allegedly punched a Los Angeles human in the face up twice after they bumped each other at a dance club. A pretrial hearing is ready for June 30; Lawrence'southward lawyers entered a plea of non guilty at his arraignment. His divorce recently finalized, Lawrence notwithstanding faces a boxing with his ex over custody of their babe, Jasmin, child back up, a prenuptial agreement that she at present contests and her demand for living expenses.
But, in the meantime, there is this other life. The 32-year-quondam histrion has made a movie, shot the concluding flavor of "Martin," his sitcom, and appeared in comedy clubs. True, colleagues and acquaintances say that he looks unwell -- painfully thin and slumber-deprived. But they also vouch for Lawrence as a kind, hard-working, sensitive soul who'due south going through something they don't really understand.
They say that the Martin Lawrence they know is cypher similar the Martin Lawrence suggested by the headlines.
"He'southward one of the sweetest guys you ever desire to meet," says Topper Carew, a former managing director of Lawrence'south. "I basically and fundamentally believe he's a proficient person."
"I know him equally a person. I know the guy's heart is deep and genuine," says Scott Mean solar day, the talent coordinator at the Comedy Shop, a stand-upwards venue where Lawrence occasionally performs. "When I heard these things, information technology was very out of character for me. To be quite honest, he'southward always been a true gentleman."
"He shows up to meetings on time. He seems fine. Normal. Professional," says Barry Josephson, a producer who signed Lawrence to a $20 meg, three-movie development bargain at Columbia Pictures. "We accept a script that we'll be showing Martin shortly."
No Comment
Only and so there are days like the one in May of last twelvemonth, when Lawrence was decorated shooting "Nothing to Lose," a Disney comedy co-starring Tim Robbins that -- studio officials study -- is "testing through the roof." Robbins plays an uptight advertising executive who cracks when he learns that his married woman is sleeping with his boss; Lawrence plays a small-time crook who tries to carjack him. They befriend each other and accept off for Arizona.
But that mean solar day on the set Lawrence was having trouble remembering his lines. An assistant called his so-wife to say the actor "was laughing hysterically over nothing and was unable to stop," according to a declaration she filed to the divorce courtroom. Director Steve Oedekerk ("Ace Ventura, Pet Detective") says he sent Lawrence home, but the actor did not show up there until five a.m., co-ordinate to the declaration. He was up again at eight or 9 a.m., rambling on about wanting to wash the automobile. He went to the carwash, a gun in his pocket, and wandered out into a Sherman Oaks intersection, screaming and yelling at no one in item.
A witness, Aaron Berg, told a local Telly station that Lawrence was shouting, "Fight the ability! Don't give up!" Said Berg, "He was similar a madman . . . and I was like -- `That's Martin Lawrence!' "
Police subdued the comedian and sent him to Cedars-Sinai hospital, where a doctor appear that Lawrence was "suffering from burnout and dehydration."
A hospital spokesman later on said, "Mr. Lawrence was suffering from a seizure every bit a consequence of his failure to take prescribed medication." The spokesman did non specify what medication.
The side by side day Lawrence'south dr., William Young, who did a toxicology report, said drugs were not the crusade of the incident, the actor was not on prescribed medication and he had non had a seizure.
After two days of rest, Lawrence went back to the set as if nada had happened. "The day he came dorsum, he did a scene when he's out on a balcony -- it's his nearly brilliant piece of work in the motion picture," says Oedekerk, who admits to being mystified.
"When I hear these things, information technology just jolts me," he says. " . . . It's like another person. You say `yikes.' It really doesn't mesh with what I know of Martin Lawrence. I've only seen the guy as polite, easy to communicate with. Simply I'one thousand not dumb. I realize that other stuff is going on there, but I'thou non privy to whatsoever of that."
Apparently few people are. And no i from Lawrence'south entourage, including his sis, brother, several babyhood friends who now work for him, lawyers, business manager, publicist and agent, wants to talk virtually it.
"We're not commenting correct now. We're not doing whatsoever interviews," says Joe Sutton, Lawrence's publicist, conspicuously uncomfortable with this non-response. The comedian is scheduled to do interviews this calendar month -- simply not with impress media -- at an event organized for the scheduled July 11 release of "Nothing to Lose." This means interviews will be no longer than five minutes each and are unlikely to affect personal issues. Lawrence recently taped a segment for the prove of old pal Rosie O'Donnell, but producers confirm she asked him no personal questions. Sutton promises that Lawrence will speak to impress reporters later the movie opens.
(After weeks of canceling appointments, the actor finally met with a studio-hired writer in May for a promotional interview for the press kit, according to a non-studio publicist. His people crossed off 3-quarters of the questions on the list; Lawrence said adjacent to nothing and the frustrated interviewer left in tears.)
Oedekerk says he'due south non worried that Lawrence's escapades will hurt the film. "I toss that up to the luck of the draw," he says, "merely I don't think it will affair. Whether it helps or hurts the movie -- I'k happy with either. I think a lot of comedians get a sure mystique by being the bad boy."
Back to Family Values?
"My mother . . . said, 'No matter what, try to find a way to respect the woman.' When you come across the `Martin' show and . . . all the crazy things I do for her [Campbell], it'due south to prove you tin can exist cool and at the same time respect your woman, who will hopefully become your wife, who will hopefully get the mother of your kids. America needs to go back to family values." -- Martin Lawrence in U.s.a. mag, April 1994
Sound and Fury
What is wrong with Martin Lawrence? Patricia Lawrence writes in court papers that her ex-husband smokes marijuana every day and that he occasionally drinks -- but these are non the sort of drugs that generally ship people off into delusional rants. There are, she says, "bouts of irrational speech." There was the time in July 1995, according to her statement and news stories, when Lawrence went off incoherently on the set up of his show, screaming and cursing and refusing to be restrained. He was admitted to Cedars-Sinai and was after found wandering the streets in his pajamas, muttering nigh going to a surprise party for himself at the Hard Rock Cafe. There was a night in July 1996 when he drove his Ferrari along Benedict Canyon, swerving off the edge of the route, terrifying his wife, who was in the car. In mid-September, she alleges, he woke her in the heart of the night, picked a fight and then shoved her, difficult.
After things soured in the Lawrence household that fall, Patricia moved into the Universal City Hilton. In late November, she says in the divorce filings, Lawrence called and said, "Y'all'll pay for what you've washed to my family unit." The next day he allegedly chosen and said: "I'yard going to take to kill you. . . . I'm going to have to impale your family unit." The following day he called to repent. Iii days after that she received an unsigned note, stating: "I will do anything to have y'all dorsum. I miss my baby then much!!! Both of you delight come abode!" Then: "If I can't accept you and then I will brand sure that no i has you. So come up home now!! If you don't, then I will have to exercise what I have to do." It was signed, "I love you to the decease."
In divorce court, Lawrence's lawyers did non file a response to her allegations.
Then at that place's Tisha Campbell's lawsuit, the substance of which Lawrence denied in a argument saying he was "beingness used as a pawn" in a contract dispute between the actress and HBO. In the complaint, the actress describes an escalating cycle of mistreatment and obsession, starting innocuously in the show'due south outset season when Lawrence, then single, would inquire her for dates, merely turning unpleasant in the 2d season, when he became "increasingly manic and volatile," co-ordinate to the adapt, threatening to burn down bandage and coiffure members for no apparent reason.
The fits of fury increased in the tertiary flavour, and in the fourth year, Campbell alleges, Lawrence groped her, forced his tongue into her oral fissure and simulated intercourse with her on the set in front of the bandage and coiffure. By this by flavour, Campbell said, he was and then out of command that in Nov she walked off the show, "terrified and concerned for her safe." She returned to complete the show's last two episodes after reaching a settlement, which was kept undercover by both sides. She won the assurance that she would have no scenes with Lawrence, a tall club for the hr-long conclusion of a 5-yr run.
What does Lawrence's mercurial behavior signal? This much we know, from his ex-wife's announcement: Since July 1995 Lawrence has undergone psychiatric treatment and taken "psychotropic medication," which may be annihilation from a tranquilizer to lithium. He has had a total-time, live-in nurse since May 1996, she said.
Psychiatric testing last September found "impairment in his thought processes," evidence of paranoia and lack of rational perspective, again according to Patricia Lawrence'due south statement filed with the court. "It was clear to both of us," she says of herself and her ex-husband's psychiatrist, John Altman, "that Petitioner [Lawrence] is suffering from mental conditions that interfere with his twenty-four hour period to 24-hour interval functioning."
One leading psychiatric skilful also says Lawrence's symptoms suggest disease rather than addiction, though she noted that she has non examined him. "Information technology's highly unlikely that drugs alone would account for such severe behavior. It sounds similar mental illness," says Lori Altshuler, managing director of the mood disorders research sectionalisation at UCLA Medical Heart. "Marijuana smoking is not commonly associated with psychotic thinking, and certainly people who have manias often potable to endeavor to quell their problem with racing thoughts and an inability to sleep."
There are similarities, she says, between Lawrence'due south irrational episodes and the symptoms of bipolar disorder, or what's commonly chosen manic-depression. The illness frequently shows up in a person's twenties. "People fluctuate in their mood, from a high, where they feel tremendous free energy, take niggling need for sleep, oftentimes take increased productivity, increased sexuality. Information technology sometimes progresses to irritability, to grandiose delusions and paranoia. If left untreated a person can become increasingly psychotic, and lose bear upon with reality."
'Porker'due south' Revenge
Lawrence was born in New York, and his family moved to Landover, Md., when he was three. His father was an Air Force sergeant who left the family unit when Martin was viii; his mother raised vi children working as a cashier. The impoverished family remained close-knit. In 1993 Lawrence told an interviewer, "We grew to know the pregnant of love. That is what allowed me and my family to stay close together."
A chubby child, Martin -- nicknamed "Porker" -- used to practice one-act routines on street corners and, subsequently graduating from Greenbelt's Eleanor Roosevelt High School, started to perform on the Washington order excursion -- the Comedy Cafe, the Comedy Connection. Fate struck: He was noticed by a scout for the TV talent show "Star Search" in 1987, propelling him to Hollywood, where he got a part in a show called "What'due south Happening At present!" But the momentum quickly fizzled; the show was canceled subsequently 14 episodes.
He worked the clubs, finally striking his footstep in 1992 with his in-your-face hosting of HBO'due south "Def One-act Jam," a showcase of young comic talent. He congenital his name on a routine filled with unrestrained and -- to many -- offensive scatological and sexual jokes and was criticized by Beak Cosby, among others, for projecting a gutter image of black men. Lawrence reveled in the controversy. In 1992 he began his Fox sitcom, playing a Detroit deejay in an innuendo-filled relationship with Campbell. In the interim he has had a hitting concert film, "You lot And then Crazy," and a hit action-comedy, "Bad Boys," co-starring Will Smith, and has directed his first feature, "A Sparse Line Betwixt Love and Detest," in which he also starred.
But if the pressures of fame were getting to Lawrence, it didn't show in public, at to the lowest degree not until terminal year. He hired his family members and hometown friends, buying them houses and cars as he grew increasingly wealthy. He met former Miss Virginia Patricia Southall in 1992 and married her in January 1995; they soon had a child. Friends of Lawrence'southward whisper vindictively that Patricia is a gilded-digger out for the comedian'due south money and contacts. She is contesting a prenuptial agreement and demanding $50,000 a month to maintain the lifestyle to which she's become accustomed.
But Patricia Lawrence says she still loves her ex-husband and left him just because she feared for the safety of herself and her child. She says she fervently hopes he gets assistance. "I do not think that [divorce] was something she wanted, no," says her lawyer, Suzanne Harris. "It doesn't mean she doesn't dear him. . . . Simply he wasn't doing these crazy things when they met."
What, Me Worry?
It may be that Martin Lawrence doesn't think he has a problem. He may believe that things are under control, that the negative publicity will pass if he just ignores it. He has non showed up at any of the court hearings related to his alleged behavior and failed to attend the proceedings of his ain divorce. A successful movie right most at present might be one way to refocus attention from all this nasty stuff. Simply information technology will do nothing to erase whatsoever problems. His sitcom is finished and there are no films in the works, despite producer Josephson's promise of an upcoming script. Simply for the moment, at least, he nevertheless has friends in Hollywood. "I'd work with him in a second," says Oedekerk. "He comes from a place where he may not go through life behaving as anybody else, but he genuinely is a overnice guy."
Source: https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/review97/fmartinlawrence.htm
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