Charlie Chaplin's divorce papers reveal film star's 'cruel and inhumane' treatment of his teenage bride during their short-lived marriage
Charlie Chaplin's divorce papers lay bare the film star's 'cruel and inhumane' treatment of his teenage bride during their short-lived marriage.
Chaplin's union to Lita Grey, who was nearly 20 years his junior, lasted just three years.
The iconic film star was said have bedded the impressionable 16-year-old after promising her marriage and then tried to convince her to have an abortion when she fell pregnant.
On the pairs wedding night Chaplin was also said to have confided in friends that the union was a better prospect than prison.
An original copy of the couples 50-page divorce papers was set to fetch an estimated £15,000 when it goes under the hammer, after being found in America.
Chaplin, then 35, married his second wife Lita, 16, in 1924.
They divorced just three years later with the teenager lifting the lid on their marriage.
In the papers it was alleged that Chaplin slept with the 'virtuous and inexperienced' Lita when she was barely 16 after promising to marry her.
On their wedding night Chaplin was said to have told friends that the marriage was a better option than prison.
He said to Lita: 'This marriage won't last long, I will make you so damn sick of me that you won't want to live with me.'
Another part claims Chaplin delayed marrying Lita after she fell pregnant in an attempt to get her to have an abortion or 'criminal operation'.
And the silent movie star was accused of calling his young bride a 'gold digger' who tried to ruin his career and stood in the way if his professional success.
The papers also contain an order stopping Chaplin from moving his wealth before the settlement so it would not affect the court proceedings.
Only around 16 copies of the divorce proceedings were believed to have been made, one sent to Chaplin himself and the others sent to various film companies and banks, involved in the proceedings.
The papers for sale in Devon, were sent to the 1st National Bank of Los Angeles on the 11th Jan 1927.
Almost a century later they are being sold by Parade Antiques on Plymouth for £15,000.
John Cabello, who owns the antiques shop, said: 'We got it from a person in America - he was told to clear out some supplies and old documents at the bank and he found them.
'He was told they would be thrown away and he kept them instead.
'When the papers were published, Chaplin was ostracised for a while. People in the know thought he was quite a nasty piece of work.
'All this comes out and makes for quite hard reading, even by today's standards.'
Rob Morrish, 27, who runs the shop's website, poured over the historic legal documents.
The 27-year-old said: 'About a week's worth of work went into researching the document, reading through it took some time.
'It's all hand signed and very old and fragile. It was folded for a long time and required a lot of very careful handling.'
The papers reveal intimate details of the couples unstable relationship, believed to be an attempt by Lita's lawyers to tarnish Chaplin's reputation and gain a bigger settlement.
Mr Morrish said: 'They met on set of one of his films and he seduced her as a young woman. It was frowned upon but he tried to make the most of the situation.
'When she became pregnant he wasn't particularly pleased to be trapped in a marriage.
'He squirrelled her away and did not report the birth until months later to make it look like the child was conceived after they wedded.
'She was quite a young woman when they divorced and she was being sent by her lawyers to get as much as they could. She has said she regretted it in later life.
'It was way above and beyond what is standard for divorce proceedings, even for now.'
Eventually in 1927, Lita and Chaplin divorced and she was granted a settlement of $800,000, the largest at the time.
Mr Morrish said: 'She achieved what her lawyers wanted. In the end she got what she wanted but he still had a fantastic career after that.'
