Ari Behn, Scandanavian author, and Kevin Spacey #MeToo accuser died Wednesday. According to Behn’s manager, the cause of death was suicide.
Behn is survived by his ex-wife, Norwegian Princess Martha Louise, and their three children. The couple divorced in 2017.
The Norwegian royal family said in a written statement that Behn was “an important part of our family for many years, and we carry warm and good memories of him with us.”
Behn made the news in recent years as one of many people to publicly accuse actor Kevin Spacey of sexual assault.
In a radio interview with P4 in 2017, Behn divulged his bizarre encounter with the now-disgraced actor that occurred at a concert for the Nobel Peace prize ten years earlier. “We had a great talk. He sat right beside me. After five minutes, he said, ‘Hey, let’s go out and have a cigarette.’ Then he puts his hand under the table and grabs me by the balls,” Behn said.
Behn is the third of Spacey’s accusers to die in 2019.
Linda Culkin–a nursing assistant–began cyberstalking Kevin Spacey in 2009 after she claims some of her patients confided to her that the actor had assaulted them. In 2014, Culkin was sentenced t0 51 months in prison and fined for a variety of charges, including stalking and making threats.
This February, Ms. Culkin was hit by a car and died of her injuries. The driver of the vehicle was not charged with any crimes.
Another accuser, this one an anonymous massage therapist who was involved in an ongoing case against Spacey, died in September. A representative indicated the death was related to cancer.
Additionally, another active case out of Nantucket–Spacey was accused of assaulting a young busboy in 2016–was dismissed recently due to the accuser suddenly refusing to cooperate with attorneys.
The deaths seem to have no connection outside of their being involved with accusations against the actor. The causes of death have not been seriously disputed. And Behn’s death did not even occur in the United States.
However, it is worth noting that Spacey publicly released a bizarre video the day before Behn’s death. The one minute video featured the actor in front of a fireplace and hung stockings wearing Christmas attire and affecting the faux South Carolina drawl of his House of Cards character, Frank Underwood. Spacey advises that when people oppose you, you should “kill them with kindness.” The video then ends with a horror movie style musical sting.
While Spacey never directly refers to his situation, it would be incredibly obtuse not to connect Underwood’s fireside chat with Spacey’s real-life issues.
It’s also interesting that Spacey would choose to make his appeals (he made a similar video last year) as Frank Underwood. Although House of Cards centered around Underwood (before Spacey was fired from the show), he is undoubtedly the villain. Unlike flawed and relatable antiheroes like Walter White or Don Draper, who are shown to be in conflict with their darker natures, the beginning, middle, and end of Underwood’s character arc is his single-minded ruthlessness. He is a force of nature, cutting a path of destruction through the lives of his friends and enemies alike. Underwood’s only connection to humanity is that he is the embodiment of all of our worst instincts.
Spacey’s choice of Underwood as a conduit seems like a guilty conscience at work, much like OJ Simpson’s book If I Did It or Louis C.K.’s bits about how big of a creep he is to women.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that Spacey was somehow involved in the deaths of his accusers. There is absolutely no evidence at this point to that effect.
What I am going to say is that–even before the death of Ari Behn–when two people connected to you have died in the last year, it is in incredibly poor taste to release a video–as a villain, no less–suggesting you “kill” those who oppose you. With kindness or anything else.
