Details of the fatal car accident of Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Gray in 1987
Matthew Broderick Killed 2 People in a Car Accident
In 1987, Matthew Broderick and Jennifer Gray were involved in a car accident that would change their lives forever. It was very difficult for both of them to get over it.
In the 80s, fortune smiled on Jennifer Gray and Matthew Broderick. Both had starred in 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off', with great success. In 1987, Broderick had just filmed 'Biloxi Blues', and Gray the hugely popular 'Dirty Dancing', which was about to be released.
Before this film, which was to become an icon of 1980s cinema, was released, Gray and Broderick went on a trip to Ireland. What was to be a romantic getaway turned into a tragedy that traumatized them forever.
HOW DID IT HAPPEN
On August 5, 1987, Matthew Broderick, then 25, and Jennifer Grey, 27, rented a BMW 316. They planned to drive from Irvinestown to Maguiresbridge, Northern Ireland. It was raining, and they stopped at a gas station.
Those were the days when there was no GPS, and the couple got lost. They had to stop to ask a police officer for directions, who suggested a better route. Broderick, however, ignored the suggestion.
Factors combined in the tragedy: the road was wet, and in Ireland cars drive with the steering wheel on the right side, with the lanes also reversed. The actor was driven by a vehicle in which two local women were traveling.
The women were Margaret Doherty, a 63-year-old widow who used a wheelchair, and her 28-year-old daughter Anna Gallagher. Both died, while Broderick and Gray survived.
SURVIVING THE TRAGEDY
It was reported that when firefighters arrived on the scene, Broderick kept asking about the women in the vehicle that had crashed. He had broken his leg and had some injuries on his face. Grey, for her part, survived with minor injuries.
After the incident, it took Broderick a month to recover. In Ireland, many were infuriated by the fact that he only had to pay a fine of $175, and bail of $4,075, after which he returned to the United States. He was not charged with murder, leaving only a note of apology to the family of the deceased.
Grey's role in 'Dirty Dancing' was a resounding success. However, she couldn't bring herself to enjoy it.
"I became America's beloved five days after the accident," she said in an interview. She explained that "the juxtaposition of deep grief, survivor's guilt, and being celebrated as the new sensation just didn't gel." She confessed that it made her feel bad to be applauded so much in those circumstances.
THE FORGIVENESS
Broderick continued to work, but the event meant receiving fewer papers. When he did a commercial for Honda for a Super Bowl, both he and the company were severely criticized.
After years of therapy, the actor decided to meet the family of the women he accidentally killed in 1987. In 2002, Matthew, Doherty's son and Gallagher's brother, said that while he still mourns the deaths of his mother and sister, he knows that Broderick didn't do it on purpose.
Broderick was originally charged with causing the deaths by dangerous driving, a crime for which he could receive up to five years in prison. However, he let her go on a much lesser charge, much to the fury of the family.
Now, however, the relative of the victims shared that he forgave the actor and does not feel animosity towards him. Both met after the birth of the actor's first child with Sarah Jessica Parker.
LIFE GOES ON
In 1997, ten years after the incident, Broderick married Parker in an intimate ceremony. They have a son, James, and twin girls, Loretta and Tabitha. Grey, for her part, was married in 2001 to Clark Gregg, with whom she has a daughter, Stella.
Despite being married for 23 years, Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick have been at the center of rumors about a possible divorce. However, each time they have proven the rumors wrong, and they are still together. They say they do not know the secret of their long union.
He is very proud of her wife, and states that he is very grateful for her and that he loves her dearly. He praised her acting chops, and complimented her on her recent Broadway show, 'Neil Simon's Plaza Suite.'
