Eddy Murphy He was the most sought-after movie star in the eighties. And although he achieved family laughs with some unforgettable comedies, he had given up acting to – as he himself put it – “not make any more shitty movies.”
He was born on April 3, 1961 in New York as Edward Regan Murphy. She grew up in a humble and hard-working family, with a father who worked in transport security but dreamed of being a comedian and a mother who was a telephone operator.
His parents separated when Eddie was three years old. and, since his father was stabbed to death by a mistress soon after and his mother became seriously ill with tuberculosis, Eddie and his brother Charlie lived in a social care home for a year.. Away from her mother’s new husband, who was an alcoholic.
Eddie Murphy and his father’s dream
Though his father did not live to see it, Eddie Murphy fulfilled his dream. After becoming famous on television in the late show Saturday Night Live, debuted on the big screen. Her first movie was 48 hourswith his friend Nick Nolte in 1982.
After the huge success of that action movie, he became the most in-demand and highest-paid black actor in Hollywood. He made, among many other films: From beggar to millionaire (1983), A detective on the loose in Hollywood (1984 and 1987) and A prince in New York (1988).
Eddie Murphy, Hollywood icon (Photo: REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)By: REUTERS
However, everything changed in the following decade. Because while audiences continued to pack the theaters, his films were disappointing critical flops. So it happened with another 48 hours, From swindler to senator, Boomerang, A vampire loose in Brooklyn and even with A detective on the loose in Hollywood III.
Success smiled at him again when he did what he did best again: humor for the whole family. The remake of the nutty professor y Dr. Doolitle They made him a star again.
Eddie Murphy and the transsexual prostitute
As the lights shone again, his numerous scandals began. On May 2, 1997, he already had two ex-partners, Paulette McNeely and Tamara Hood., and a son with each, Eric and Christian. He had remarried Nicole Mitchell and had five more children with her, the oldest the same age as the first two (Bria, Myles, Shane, Zola, and Bella).
That night he was stopped on Santa Monica Boulevard while driving a transgender prostitute named Shalimar Seiuli in his car.. Although he explained that he was simply doing a good deed of her by taking her to her house, she had an outstanding warrant for her arrest and was arrested.
Also read: New underwear, luxurious motorhomes and lots of mineral water: the demands of Hollywood stars when filming
The prostitute sold her story in exchange for her $15,000 bail to the National Enquirerwhere he told that the actor had asked him to pose for him in his underwear.
The tabloid magazine found several other transsexual prostitutes who claimed to have been hired by Eddie Murphy. Shalimar was found dead a year later, apparently trying to climb into her house on a 5th floor because she had forgotten or lost her keys.
Eddie Murphy and a new scandal
After the new success of the second parts of the nutty professor y Dr. Doolitle, came his biggest failure and also in the entire history of Hollywood. the space movie Pluto Nashwhich had invested 120 million dollars, raised only 4 in the United States and 2 in the rest of the world: more than 100 million in the red.
Eddie Murphy at the 2023 Golden Globes. REUTERS/Mario AnzuoniBy: REUTERS
was recomposed with Dreamgirls, as a singer supporting a female music group. But when he lost the Oscars to Alan Arkin, he walked out of the auditorium in what is still remembered as one of the greatest swaggers in Oscar history.
Eddie Murphy and his “big family”
Meanwhile, separated from Nicole, he had dated Melanie Brown, one of the Spice Girls, for a while. Her eighth daughter, Angel Iris Murphy Brown, was born when he was already separated from her mother and didn’t even recognize her until a DNA test proved her paternity. He later had two more children (Izzi Oona and Max Charles) with his last partner, Paige Butcher.
Also read: Eddie Murphy: ‘I’m the only black actor who got a worldwide audience
“I stopped acting so I wouldn’t make shitty movies”explained the actor about his six years without working on the podcast WTF. In that time, he did not stop buying luxurious cars (among them a Rolls Royce and a Ferrari), on which he is considered to have spent half his fortune. In recent times, he has returned to make several films for digital platforms.
One last bit of Eddie Murphy? Before filming each film, he demands a huge quantity of underpants and stockings with the labels on, so that he can premiere them every day on the film set. Strange requirement of a Hollywood star…