Remembered as Kevin Spacey's S fantasy in American Beauty, actress Mena Suvari has now revealed that she was living hell. She has done so in her forthcoming autobiography The Great Peace: A Memoir, excerpts from which People magazine has obtained in which she recounts how she was S- abused from a very young age and how this led to her becoming a drug addict after arriving to Hollywood.
At 42 years old, the interpreter recalls how her life changed when she was about to turn 13. "Between the ages of twelve and twenty, I was the victim of repeated S abuse," she says, rapes that began when she and her family moved to Charleston, South Carolina, which for her meant being "the new girl" in town. City and "was just trying to fit in.
Suvari explains how a good friend of one of her older brothers (she has three), whom she names "KJ" so as not to reveal her identity in her memories, was cajoling, persecuting, and pressuring her to have S-. despite her refusal.
However, she recounts how one day, at KJ's house, he took her to her room and raped her. "I didn't want to do it. A part of me died that day. He used me, had fun with me, and then got rid of me. He called me a whore. I never managed to express myself in a healthy way in S-. I lost my opportunity. And that, added Because I didn't feel seen or heard, it established the concept I would have of myself. That was my value," she reveals.
Suvari adds that she felt ashamed for "allowing something like this to happen" so she "began to establish a pattern" in her life: "Make it work; stay alive." And that resulted in her moving, when she was 15, to Hollywood, California, to become an actress.
The also interpreter of the American Pie saga recalls in her book that her first agent, whom she considered her friend and her protector, wanted to have S- with her. "By then my family had fallen apart. My mother had moved on and was looking after herself and my [much older] father was in mental and physical decline. I felt I either had no other options or was not worthy of a different life," she writes, before admitting that this led to her starting to date the wrong people and turning to drugs.
"I resorted to whatever form of self-medication I could find, just to get by, just trying to survive," says Suvari, who on her 17th birthday met a man referred to in the book as "Tyler" who would abuse her. S- and emotionally, pressuring her to have threesomes or pick up women to bring home.
"I remember thinking that, perhaps, that was the way relationships were: shouting, insults, abuse," she says in the book, which goes on sale on July 27 in the United States. "I felt like everything was caused by me in some way. From KJ to Tyler, it was a process of destruction," she admits.
Fortunately, Suvari's career and life changed starting in 1999, at the age of 20, when in just a few months she premiered the comedy American Pie and then played the cheerleader Angela in American Beauty, receiving not only critical acclaim but also a BAFTA nomination.
"It was a beautiful experience to have the opportunity to work and express myself just when I needed [acting] to save me," she reflects, though she acknowledges that she was "living a double life" at the time. "Every time I went to a shoot or was interviewed, I was acting all the time. It was another role for me. One in which I was fine," he adds, as well as breaking up with Tyler and stopping drug use by going to therapy and with the support of his friends.
After divorcing twice, Suvari has found true love in the figure of Mike Hope, whom she actually met on a set in 2018. After getting married in October 2018, their first child, whom they have named Christopher Alexander, was born in April of this year.
"This is my truth. This is my voice. I was so tired of dealing with it and hiding my whole life. I hope I can help someone else find their courage. If I can ease someone else's pain, then I want to, because I did not have that person. This is what I have learned about myself. And for the first time I allow myself to speak it and find the voice that I want to have, "he concludes.
