tv Larry King Live CNN November 17, 2010 9:00pm-10:00pm EST
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>> are we talking spam dresses? >> pastrami skirts. the chefs are depicted in the window, hurling food at each other. >> thank you all for coming. next time, bring the food and the fashion. all right. >> "larry king live" starts right now. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com tonight, oksana grigorieva. exclusive. mel gibson's exgirlfriend will speak publicly for the first time about one of the most vicious custody battles ever. >> i was standing in the middle of the room holding the baby as mel proceeded to enter the room and struck me twice.
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>> larry: she'll tell us why she loved him, covered up for him. >> i wanted my mother to prove that if i'm dead, this is who did it. >> larry: a riveting, revealing, shocking hour, you won't hear anywhere else. >> he begged, he cried. >> larry: it's next on "larry king live." good evening. oksana grigorieva is mel gibson's exgirlfriend. they have a 1-year-old child together and are locked in a bitter dispute. mr. gibson has sought a gag order to prevent any public parties from speaking about the case. the judge rejected that. mel has never commented about the conversations. with us, martin garbus, who's
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father lives in moscow, her father was a russian war hero in the world war ii against the nazis. how did you meet? >> we were introduced by a mutual friend and there were cards on a table. and the friend took my card and put his cell phone number on my card and so mel called me a couple of weeks later. >> larry: were you playing piano when you met him? >> i was just at the dining table in the restaurant. >> larry: so, he called you? >> yeah, he did. >> larry: and you knew he was married, right? >> yes, i did know he was married, but for nine months, we were just riding together. we hardly saw each other. it was like a friendship thing. >> larry: so no adultery. >> then he explained to me that he was unhappy for many years and that he was in love,
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actually. >> larry: and a romance budded. do you ever feel, oxon, i forgot your mike. do you ever feel you caused the break-up? >> he explained to me that it was not the reason they separated. since 2006 for sure and they were very unhappy prior to that. >> larry: so, you felt no guilt. >> i did not because he reassured me over and over again that his union has been finished a long time ago before i came into this and he pursued him heavily for nine months. >> larry: you have a son, he's 13. timothy dalton is his father and you are friendly with him. >> we are great friends. he came to baby's birthday party a week ago. >> larry: and you have a daughter with mel. >> one years old. this year. >> larry: this whole battle is about her. >> right.
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all about her and about standing up to domestic violence. this is not to be silent about domestic violence. this is a highly publicized case. if i am silent, can you imagine how many others do suffer at the hand of a perpetrator and have no chance to come here, be kindly invited by you and speak about this. >> larry: so your reason is that. >> this case is about domestic violence. there's also, i've just found out that in fact yesterday, that there's a large amount of hour files being leaked or sold or stolen to the -- and given to the press or sold, i don't know. >> larry: files from where? >> court files. >> larry: aren't court files public, martin? >> no. in the family, court files are sealed. they're confidential, so that the files that were leaked to an
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internet station were all stolen. probably from the court and the court has ordered yesterday an investigation. >> larry: so, this is testimony given by your client, mr. gibson, others. >> it's medical documents, court opinions, transcripts. everything it seems, over 2,000 pages of documents were leaked and the district's attorney's office started an investigation. >> it could be quite terrible because the case could turn into a gossip story rather than what's important here. it's domestic violence and lucy at stake. >> larry: radar online posted tapes that oksana says are accurate recordings. we continue to ask gibson for a response to verify and so far, he's not commented. let's listen.
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how did that come ever to be taped? give me the circumstances, oksana. >> well, january 6th this year, the beating took place. mel actually assaulted me while i was holding the baby in my arms. >> larry: at whose house? >> our house at that point. and i ran into my son's bedroom and told him to hide because mel is crazy, getting really
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violent. my son was getting ready for bed and he jumped kipd of behind the bed. i was in the middle of the room with the baby like you know, a mother protecting her cubs. as mel proceeded into the room and struck me twice. >> larry: in front of your boy? >> in front of my boy. >> larry: was he drunk? >> no, he wasn't drunk. >> larry: how did that lead to the subsequent phone call? >> he hit me and choked me in front of my son and then you know, brandished a gun at me and i left him on the 6th of january and the very following morning, the very following day, he was apologetic, asking for a chance for us to be together. that he will be cured, treated, evaluated, all those words. i was covering up for him and --
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>> >> larry: you didn't report it. >> i didn't. i was covering up and i believed him. if somebody's asking you for a chance, you give them a chance. >> larry: what led to the phone call? >> all of the phone calls that were recorded were recorded on the same night of 18 february and 18 to the 19th. he started calling me early in the evening. >> larry: what was he angry about? >> because i left him. >> larry: you forgave him for the first instance. >> i forgave him after the first severe beating that you know, he struck me twice with a fist then choking me while i was holding lucy and protecting myself. he told us to get the f out and went to get the gun and i asked my son to get in the car and that's how we left the 6th of january and from then on, every
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day, he was apologizing. >> larry: you took him back? >> i did. >> larry: what broke it up again? >> larry: he lost it again on february the 18th. he thought you were with another guy? >> no, he thought the gentlemen who brought the tree for the tree ceremony asked me if santa had anything to do with lucy and said, yes, it's in her honor. that was the report. >> larry: a tree in her honor? >> yes. the tree was planted that day. >> larry: is this a russian? >> it's mel's thing. it's a nice thing i think. >> larry: does oksana think mel has a problem with women, racism and how the phone calls came to be recorded. martin garbus is with us as well. we'll be right back. [ advisor 1 ] what do you see yourself doing one week,
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lucy in my arms and said he was going to hurt her. i called my mother in the middle of russian night. i said, i'm leaving him now. she said i have to. he started to call me. he called and called and threatened my life. i did not tape him until about 11:00 at night. he called me from 8:00. i called his assistant. i was trying to get the number of his psychologist. i knew this is not the man i fell in love with. this is his illness because this profanity, anger rage, unforgivable. >> larry: so why, oksana, did you tape him? >> i thought i'm actually not going to live for the night and -- >> larry: he's going to come over and kill you. >> yes, that's what he said in
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those tapes. >> larry: they were evident. >> yeah. i have none edited and it's pretty frightening and completely unforgivable. >> larry: so you wanted to world to hear this. >> i wanted my mother to prove that if i'm dead, this is who did it. she witnessed the violence in december. but another, another reason was, it's very strange. the victims, i think they're really decent human beings, they cover up perpetrators. they're trying to help them. in the back of my mind, i thought, if i don't get killed tonight, then i'd like him to hear what he sounds like. >> larry: is it legal to tape a phone conversation? >> it is if you think your life is threatened or the person is doing illegal connotations.
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so, what she did, she didn't do it for herself, but it is perfectly appropriate. if she wanted to call the police, for example, right after the call, she would have something to show the police. >> larry: play it for 911. >> yes. >> larry: how did the tapes ever get released? >> i have no idea. it's -- >> larry: they were just in my possession. >> of my lawyers. >> larry: how can they be released if you're the only one with them. >> no, no, no, she's not the only ones with him. she said her lawyers had them. not me. and the court had them. the court in the same way that these files are broken into two days ago where 1,000 documents were releases or 2,000, the tapes came out of the course house. >> larry: so, sheez were not released the next day. in the record, the man, mel
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gibson, he continues to not say anything about whether it was him. listen. why was he mad at you? >> because i left him that night. that was his anger. >> larry: not that you had said anything publicly. >> not at all. this was recorded one night. when in the cycle of domestic violence, you cut out from your
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friends, economically. he had complete control over me. he was losing control. >> larry: so, you were deliberately taping him for further use if something happened to you or the record? >> at the time, there were two reasons. one, i won't live for the night and i want my mother to prove that's who killed me and two, i wanted to help him. >> larry: we'll be back with more, don't go away. e into electricity, so it's more efficient. so i thought... what if we put that same system onto one of these? [ people screaming ] who knows? we might be able to create the world's first self-sustaining amusement park. [ male announcer ] how would you use toyota technology to make a better world? learn how to share your ideas at toyota.com/ideasforgood.
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. >> larry: back with oksana and her attorney. we keep calling back or was that one call? >> actually, i just discovered from my attorneys those tapes, those recordings were legal under the penal code of california's 653 m. i've just learned that. >> just been educated. >> larry: you can do this if threatened? >> yes. >> larry: were there a series of calls? >> a talks about body injury and threat and b talks about harassing phone calls or repe repeated phone calls. it doesn't say they have to be foul. he called every five, ten minutes from 8:00 p.m. to 3:00
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in the morning. >> larry: how are they so technically good? >> they're not that good. >> larry: you had a home machine? >> no, iphone. yes. >> larry: just sold a lot of iphones. >> larry, i didn't get a chance to listen to all of the messages together. it's really horrendous. the fury and anger. >> larry: the other thing people have asked about this, why didn't you hang up? >> i did. he kept calling back. i knew the sound, you probably can hear it's like coming from a barrel. i knew he was on his old phone in malibu. he's not on the road calling from his iphone. i knew he was still there, so i kept picking up. but i got so exhausted.
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that's not why i'm not replaying. obviously, i didn't plan for this to be on public television. >> and the calls with hang-ups. >> larry: not a 30-minute call. in this clip, we hear the man giving his feeling about oksana's appearance. do you provocatively dress? >> am i now? >> larry: not now. where does that come from? >> as i said, all from the same night and this is a person who's losing control. this is a batterer who has been controlling me for quite a while. i stopped seeing my friends. i financially became dependent
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on him. he's losing control. i left him and this is the anger and outrage and he needs to take responsibility for the mental state he is. domestic violence is illness. >> larry: when the tapes were released, where did you first hear it, publicly? >> i don't know, i think somebody called me and told me something. >> larry: were you shocked? >> yes. >> larry: you had no idea this would be seen on a television? >> my lawyer called me in and told me i'm completely shocked. >> whoever took the files from the courthouse got paid a good deal of money. i presume whoever took the tapes paid a great deal of money to get them, so there is a money business with respect to loots court files. >> larry: how about the story that you were out to entrap him in a way. you knew his weakness and you
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wanted these tapes for use in a courtroom some day. did you have any script? >> are you kidding me? >> larry: people have said this. i'm just asking. >> listen to the tapes in their entirety. >> you have to listen to them in the original without bleepings. i have only heard them in the way i recorded them. nine conversation. probably called me 30, 40 times that night. i recorded eight or nine conversations. i can't remember right now. >> larry: why did you stay with him? >> that was a mistake. i stayed a little bit too long. but again, i immediately left on the sixth -- >> larry: you went back after january. >> i did. i forgave him. he asked me for last chance. he begged, cried on his knees. >> larry: did liquor set it off?
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>> he never drunk. one one time when he was away. >> larry: so, this occurred by a man in full control of his senses. >> that's why i keep saying on those tapes, you need meditation for the sake of our daughter. he's using his lawyers, putting millions and millions of dollars. the paternity system is broken. maybe it's from 400 years ago from u.k., when one person, the judge, is entirely responsible for something so monumental as your child's custody. >> larry: mel was arrested for dui 2006.
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>> larry: we're back with oksana grigorieva. i got it right. and mar min garbus, her attorney. when we heard about the incident with a police officer, were you seeing him then? >> i met him in 2007. we started -- >> larry: you knew that story. >> you know what, i knew a little bit about it. >> larry: did you talk to him about it? >> obviously. >> larry: what did he say about the comments and jews and blacks. he said look, everybody i work
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with is jewish. >> he denies having made those statements, so if he's quoted, he say, i never said it. >> yeah, he said there was an actor who they recorded, i've never heard those, an actor who sounded like him. >> larry: so he said he never made an antigay remarks, antigay remarks, antijewish. >> pretty much denied everything. it's only when i became pregnant and i felt like he had me, like he had complete control over me. he started to show his true self. but in the beginning of the relationship, he said there's a dark side of me. i don't want you to ever see that because it will destroy us. >> larry: during the arrest, he was charged with dui. did you see him drink a lot? >> he never drunk. >> larry: never drank?
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>> never drunk. >> larry: during the arrest, police reports said he said f'ing jews. asked the deputy if he was jewish. you're not jewish, are you? >> i'm turned catholic, but i was russian orthodox and i have reconditioned to catholicism. >> larry: isn't that hypocritical? >> as far as what's happening now. >> larry: he wants custody of this little girl? >> there are a number of court cases. one, is paternity suit, where he wants custody of the little girl. he's trying to deprive her of custody. he doesn't want to pay support for the child. then you have a criminal proceeding, where oksana and her son have gone to the district
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attorney and described the events of january 6th, the beating. by the way, mel acknowledges he hit her. it's not as if he says he's in chicago and didn't touch her. he admits hitting her. in the criminal court, you have the domestic violence and mel has filed a phony charge against her that she somehow released the tapes and was guilty of extortion and was threatening him to release the tapes, none of which is true. >> i never threatened him. i walked on $15, what he was offering me, to wash his hands. >> larry: he offered you how much? >> $15 million. >> larry: to drop the thing. >> to settle, but he, the way he obtained that custody, it was fraudulent. >> $15 million to end everything. >> larry: no criminal, no
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nothing. >> so, the i'm sure the extortion charges are really just a publicity cover up and will drop away. one of the problems you mentioned before is that mel gibson, every day nearly in court, tries to bring some kind of gag order to try to stop her from talking. >> larry: but she hasn't, has she? >> i haven't. >> we had the show set for one night, he canceled it. because of her concern that the judge would somehow take it against her that she had gone on television and talked about these issues. one of the things that gibson says is that if she's on television, she's not spending time with her child, which is nonsense. every day, there's an application for a gag order to stop her from talking. >> larry: mel released a statement after the dui incident. here it is in part -- ♪
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>> larry: we're back. what do you make of that statement we just broadcast? i announced what he said at the time -- you say you don't see him drink. he said he's a confirmed alcoholic. >> he was then, but then he became aa and had a sponsor and had a 12-step program. there's anger issues. there's alcoholic issues. there's other issues he's not aware of and i think the disease is progressing. like anybody with a brain tumor knows it has to be attended to immediately. what he does, he pays millions
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and millions to his attorneys that seem to be preventing him to be responsible for what he's done. it's not okay to be beaten and si silent. >> larry: why didn't you take the 15 million? >> because the first sheet i was forced to sign, i was threatened that i will be sued criminally, prosecuted, civilly, criminally and lose the custody of my children. >> larry: your crime being what? >> regarding mel gibson. >> larry: why didn't you take the 15 million? >> because the custody was wrong. >> larry: he would have custody? >> too much custody. under the terms of the agreement, he would get a rapid acceleration. she was afraid to leave the child with him. >> and he didn't want to take any responsibility and he washed
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his hands of dmosic violence in that silent agreement. my main thing is i cannot live with that. i cannot live in silence and i don't believe that mel gibson is you know, could be a great dad if he doesn't take responsibility for what he's done and treat himself. it's an illness. there's some kind of condition that needs to be treated. i am worried about my daughter spending overnights there. >> larry: does she spend overnight with him? >> of course and now, step up from that mediation agreement, which only works in part, i.e., custo custody. i walked off on that for my daughter. >> he has a nanny there, but the child sleeps alone. the nanny takes care of the child and the argument in court has been denying the mother.
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>> larry: what's he paying in child support? >> $20,000 a month. >> it just started. i haven't seen it yet. >> larry: here, another clip. oksana discusses being hit. >> language is awful. i don't know if you heard the tapes. >> larry: i think you can imagine. we did. i'm still a man, i know that you
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were doing for hopefully protecting yourself. why you didn't keep hanging up. >> she did. you're missing the story. in other words, each tape you're hearing -- >> he called me 30 times. i only recorded eight conversations. >> in order, she'd get a call, it would go for one to two minutes. she'd hang up. of that, she probably answered a small percentage of the calls that came in, but considered taping. >> larry: what finally ended the calls? >> i pulled the batteries out of the all the phones. i was so exhausted. i couldn't talk to him anymore. he kept calling, i'm sure. >> larry: we'll be back with more, don't go away. [ male announcer ] alka-seltzer plus rushes relief for all-over achy colds. the official cold medicine of the u.s. ski team. alka-seltzer plus.
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pregnant. he started to show signs of the darkness he did not want me to be exposed to. he started to be violent to other people. scream, yell, mostly verbally. the worst one was is january 6th. >> larry: did you ever, because he's charging this, did you ever extort him? >> i never have. >> caller: a quid pro quo? >> what is that? >> larry: you give me this, i drop that. >> i only gave the tapes to my lawyers. eventually, the court got it from my lawyers. this is the domestic violence case. this is a domestic violence case. it's not okay to be beaten in silent. not in this country. soldiers died. i know i'm not dying or anything, but i'm being threatened in court that i might lose my baby.
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i'm terrified talking you right now. i might need your help, larry. >> larry: but he's a very famous person. the power you had over him was his fame. other people who treat people poorly and hit them, they're not well-known. they're slaves to them. they have trouble running away. you didn't have that problem. mel gibson. >> but look at the power he had. >> larry: she's vulnerable physically. >> in the courtroom, he has endless attorneys spending fortunes. probably had ten applications to stop her from speaking first amendment speeches and tried to go everything to discourage her. >> i have to say something really important. the domestic violence hearing has not been set. it's been six months. i have witnesses.
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it's not been set. because his lawyers being paid, the more aggressive they are, the more millions he pays them. paternity laws as such the system is broken. it needs to be redone. the remnants of maybe the british system where control of your child is lying in the hands of one person and also in paternity, if you're domestic violence victim, in my situation, i'm the poor one, so the perpetrator pays my lawyers and it's a conflict of interest. but my lawyers only get paid if the judge permits them to be paid. they have to be nice. >> larry: have you been paid? >> no. >> larry: we continue to ask mel gibson for response and very fi the authenticity. so far, he has not commented at all.
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>> he's threatening to take my daughter away. he does not want to be responsible. he does not want to treat his illness. he does not want to be a good dad. >> larry: do you rory when he takes his daughter? >> absolutely. >> larry: once again, we have asked mel gibson for a response, we have not received one. there were a number of responses from oksana to mel gibson.
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up two embassies in africa, the first gitmo detainee to be tried in a civilian court. tonight a jury says he's guilty of one count, innocent on 284 others, including all those deaths. was this a victory of the rule of law or travesty of justice? and who's to blame? the obama administration for trying him in a civilian court or a bush administration which allowed him to be sent to a secret prison where his lawyers say he was tortured. and sarah palin looking for a run at the white house and believes she can beat president barack obama. we'll show you the interview with barbara walters and how she's positioned to top the other republican candidates. and our series on amazing animals continues. the latest scientific research about how apes think and communicate. i met the apes myself. scientists say they can communicate using the english language and somehow i ended up in a costume dressed as a rabbit because i was told that's what the apes wanted. it's the weirdest story i think i've done in a while.
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we'll explain at the top of the hour. now back to "larry king." >> larry: we're back. how was he to your son? >> well, sasha was 12 years old when the abuse happened on january 6th. >> larry: before that, how was he? >> it was spotty. it was good to begin with. they really got on so well, this is during happy times with mel for two years we were very happy. and i remembered mel, the man i -- the man, mel, i fell in love with. he was a wonderful person. >> larry: are there two mels? >> there are definitely two mels. >> larry: do you still have feelings for him? >> i think those -- what he's done is completely unforgivable and the level of partner and soul mate and -- as a woman, we had a family unit, and we
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promised each other to look after one another for our daughter's sake and what i'm doing right now i'm just keeping that promise to look after her and to make him better, to help him better. so to answer your question, as a human being, as a mother of his child, i would forgive him but he really needs to come and acknowledge what he's done and what he's doing. accusing the mother of his child of completely made up extortion and dragging it and dragging it. >> larry: we have more audio. we'll hear the man allegedly mel gibson talking to oksana about financial support.
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. >> larry: boy. >> that's tough stuff. >> it's painful. >> larry: what's it like to sit with him in court? >> you know, i've only seen him there twice in the last week. he wasn't there before. not once. >> larry: was it hard to see him? >> yes, it is. >> i think mel's a good actor, and i think that when he's sitting in court he's acting a different role. he's acting the role of a concerned father. so the mel that you hear on the tapes and the mel you see is not the person is he in court. >> larry: we'll be back with our remaining moments after this. [ male announcer ] one look can turn the everyday into romantic.
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>> larry: we're back with our remaining moments. this trial or trials continues. did he ever harm your daughter? >> the -- there were two fist blows, one of them were across my mouth which broke my teeth or veneers if you like. one was shattered in tiny little pieces and i think at the end of that blow he grazed across the chin and maybe the porcelain i found it later on on my shirt everywhere, like tiny little bits and pieces, very sharp, and it went across her chin and she started bleeding. but the actual the actual cut was very hard. he hit me with a fist. he hit me twice very fast and the blow went across my mouth, broke the teeth, the veneers and then at the end of that blow, because i was holding her, i was protecting her head, he gratzed through her chin, and it cut her
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>> only as a joke. he called me all kind of different names. >> larry: but you were so close that you converted to catholicism. >> we were extremely in love for two years. >> larry: so -- you didn't see drinking. >> no. >> larry: these rages did not occur while inebriated. >> not in the beginning, not at all at least for a year and a half, two years. he was wonder. and attentive and loved me so much and he would carry me around, pick me up out of nowhere and his friends said he was the healthiest and happiest they'd ever seen him. >> larry: you every turn on television and one of his movies were on? >> yeah, we'd watch -- >> larry: no, now do you watch. >> not now. not now. >> larry: it's all very sad. >> it's tremendously sad, and all i'm trying to do, what i'm trying to i guess what i'm trying to do is step in for domestic violence, not just for myself not for
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