The Dark Side of Hollywood Icon Jerry Lewis | Vanity Fair 

My ex-father-in-law worked for him as a guard. Said he was one of the most abusive, classless and disrespectful people he knew. He quit and never looked back.

Contrast Lewis against Don Rickles' personality. Rickles was a sweet guy who pretended to be a jerk. Lewis was a jerk who pretended to be sweet-natured.

It would be easier to do a story on who wasn't a psychopath in Hollywood

Someone said......Money doesn't change you, it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice.

These women have ABSOLUTELY NOT ONE PENNY to gain financially, not one penny, that ship sailed long ago. What possible reason could they have for making these terrible accusations? I believe them 100%.

It's so sad that people we admired for many years turned out to be nothing more than garbage

Always thought he was creepy and never thought he was funny. These stories are disturbing and heartbreaking. I am so sorry for what these women endured. 😢

He sure played that funny, endearing, lovable character quite well. A true Jekyll and Hyde.

My father was put into an orphanage at the age of 10 after his father died and jerry came to see the kids one day. My dad LOVED him he was so excited about Jerry coming. He came walked down the hall smoking his cigarette and was in a foul mood. After his cigarette was done he flung it to the floor and stepped on it smooshing it into the newly cleaned floor (just for him!) turned around scowling at the kids and left. My father was absolutely heart broken by this. Seems he was an awful awful entitled narcissistic man. Shame on him.

No one I've known who met Jerry Lewis ever had something nice to say about him.

So horrid. My deepest respect for these women who came forward--what they were put through is intolerable.

As an Irishman living in Dublin Ireland, I grew up with Norman Wisdom. A British genius of slapstick comedy, a very successful movie star and devoted husband and father. He was in every way the complete opposite of Jerry Lewis in private life.

Jack Benny who loved everyone couldn't stand Jerry Lewis. Don Rickels once said.

“I’m different now” 😢 the stripping of someone else’s innocence and hope is just one of the worst evils

Jerry should have been arrested and thrown in jail.

Jack Benny was famously magnanimous toward his Hollywood peers, but he hated Jerry Lewis. When Jack Benny hates you, something is terribly wrong with you.

I remember back in the late 1980's/1990's when my family got bulldozed by Jerry Lewis and his body guard at the Fashion Show mall in Las Vegas. Jerry came storming in like he owned the place. Walked through us like we weren't there. I called him a few choice words as he pushed my mom out of his way. He ignored me but his body guard turned and threatened to have us arrested for disturbing Mr. Lewis. I told him to f off as we walked away. 🙄 Following that event, I swore off Jerry Lewis movies and never watched another of his telethons. I would never allow anyone to push my mother around.

Born in 1962, I grew up watching Jerry Lewis movies and I just adored him. When I was 20 years years old I worked at a Jewish delicatessen/restaurant in Toronto. One night around 12:30 am, Jerry Lewis came in with three other's, I couldn't believe it, Jerry Lewis, and I was his server and would ask for his autograph too! I said hello and welcomed them into the restaurant and asked what brought him into town. He looked at me so very unfriendly like and said, 'we're filming a movie here." His hair was dyed jet black and shining with what looked like a tube of Vaseline in it. I served them, brought the bill and he gave me a $10 tip which would be equal to $25 + change today. But because he was so cold and unfriendly, I no longer wanted his autograph, I found him to be a real jerk. Watching this video has repulsed me greatly. I'm so sorry for all the women he sexually abused, what a filthy pig. I wish he'd been caught and thrown in prison but I am so sure he would have been completely untouchable. Sorry this was so long.

He didn't seem sincere as a person. He appeared to be a legend in his own mind.

Tip of the iceberg my friends, that’s Hollywood. My grandmothers younger sister was a bit part actress in the 30-50s. The stories she told my grandparents were sickening, it’s worse now with all the drugs involved.

I helped Jerry Lewis when I worked at Aaron Bros Art Mart in Las Vegas when he came in to pick up some framed art. He was rude, impatient and entitled. I’m so glad these women’s stores are coming out and hope they can find peace.

After he divorced his 1st wife, he treated his sons terrible. I liked Dean Martin, but never liked Jerry Lewis.

I watched Jerry’s son Garry and his band play on a talk show in the 70s. Jerry was on there with him. When the host asked what it was like growing up with such a funny and talented father, (expecting to hear something funny or sentimental) he looked at his father awkwardly and then never really responded. He just drifted away. I don’t remember what he said but you could see how awkward it was. I later found out why. 7 sons, 40 or 50 million dollars and you leave them nothing.

A friend of mine told me this story. In the late ‘60’s she was working at Disneyland. Gary Lewis and the Playboys had a regular musical gig there. Gary began dating her, and asked her to join his band. She was quite beautiful. She replied, “I sing or play an instrument.” Gary said, “You can just hold a tambourine.” She spent time at the Lewis house, where Jerry (father of Gary) would chase her around the pool table when no one else was around. His intentions were obvious...but she could run faster and Lewis failed in his attempts. Personally I never thought his whiny act was funny.

He didn't escape justice. Fame and fortune doesn't sway the Judge. His rulings are final and eternal.

I loved him as a kid, but lost all respect for him as an adult. It's sad how he treated his family. Not leaving them anything when he died was the ultimate added insult to injury!

My heart goes out to these women and men that were violated in Hollywood. 🙏🏽💔❤️

Read Hal Wallis' book years ago and he said "Jerry was a jerk" and worse. This is the guy who produced all his movies.

As a kid I thought he was funny. When I got older I wondered how Dean Martin stood him all those years. I couldn’t stand how he tried to act funny then act all snobby. Dean was a class act. Jerry was a POS!

This is why I don't put anyone on a pedestal , especially celebrities, like many people do. I've never understood people screaming and fainting, etc., at the set of a celebrity. No one reacts that way to people in their lives, that they know and love, but they do it with people they've never even met before, and likely never will. Almost always, the people that are idolized would greatly disappoint in person. The other weird thing to me is that people immediately forgive things with celebrities, who don't even know they exist, that they would never forgive with their own loved ones. It's insane to me.

My heart goes out to these lovely women. I am so sorry you were treated like this. I know why you didnt do anything at the time. Many of us have been there. Sending you love and light in this world and the next 💜

I appreciate how brave she was to share her story and create awareness for other young women today. Ladies protect yourselves . You are worth it

My heart goes out to these ladies.

I had one encounter with him when I was 18, I was an usher in a movie theatre in Boston in the mid-seventies, he was in town for a play he was staring in, I was at the door taking tickets, he walked up to me and wanted me to let him in for free! The ticket was $3.00; he did not introduce himself, he just assumed I knew who he was and I'd let him in because he was Jerry Lewis, I told him I'd have to call my manager for permission, I picked up the phone to the manager's office, but Lewis was obviously insulted that I didn't break the rules for him and stormed off! A very unpleasant man, I've never forgotten that uncomfortable encounter.

I am always grateful for the outreach and support the MD community has gotten due to Jerry’s telethons each year. People with muscular dystrophy need all the help (medical or otherwise) they can get. I however, severely hate Jerry Lewis. After hearing about his horrible behavior and abuses towards colleagues and fans, I will never have any respect for him again! My heart goes out to these women and their families. 😞

I really believe he was playing himself in King Of Comedy. That was a very telling role. Particularly where Deniro turns up unannounced at his house.

My Dad worked with Jerry Lewis on the telethon in Seattle. He had a reputation for being an egomaniac. My father avoided him and thought he was weird. He said Jerry should have been put in jail for what he did to these poor women.

"I'm different now." I feel this to my core.

My late mother knew of an incident in Toronto-with staff at the hotel Lewis stayed-who were physically abused by Lewis. What he did to two young gals would put him in prison for 15 today for years.

Lewis is not the exception, he is the rule, and that remains true in Hollywood, but also throughout show business, music, theater, TV, and any activity where relationships are tainted and corrupted by differences in money and power.

Judging by the way JL treated his own children these stories don't surprise me at all. Basically there is nothing at all funny about the man. He was a textbook sociopath.

You can still hear the pain and anguish in Hope Holiday's voice. This broke my heart. I will pray for both of these women.

My heart goes out to these brave women. Telling their stories. I fully believe them. I'm so disappointed to learn the truth. It's heartbreaking.

He was abusive to his own children too.

I was in Hollywood in the 70s. Jerry was universally hated. He treated others horribly!

7:28 - I'm so glad she said that. Victims are often reluctant to express the extent of the rage they feel because they're concerned about how it will make them look. People either get it, or they don't. You can't waste your time worrying about the people who don't.

He outlived his time and became a bitter crank

I read a biography about him, he was a maniac.

Many years ago, my wife happened to be in her Corvette parked next to Jerry Lewis. Jerry got into his car and attempted to start the engine. He tried over and over again to start his engine. My wife, still looking at him laughed, but it wasn't a malicious laugh. She said that Jerry looked at her and flipped her off. He was angry.

I never understood his popularity. His cruelty and arrogance towers above anything he ever did in movies or on TV.

My heart goes out to his ex-wife and sons, who he treated miserably. Then for some reason, he remarried and gave everything to his 2nd wife and step-daughter. He seems to have been a super alpha-male who resented his own male children.

"I'm different now". What a profound and heartbreaking statement. He singlehandedly changed her for the rest of her life. I too always thought he was funny when I was a kid. Once an adult I found him repulsive. And I too thought there was something odd and disturbing about him. I had no idea why.....but something always bothered me about him. I thought it might be because he looked so dumb at his age acting like a bumbling fool. But maybe it was something much deeper and darker. Maybe that is why Dean Martin didn't have anything to do with him for those many years. Hard to say. But Jerry Lewis is a true P.O.S. My heart aches for these 2 women and countless others who were dealt the same fate.

I truly had no idea he was so bad . How awful for all his victims 💔

I never once laughed at anything Lewis ever did. Dean never needed him .

It would be really lovely to have Jerry Lewis still alive to this day so he can see and witness for himself how much of a diatribe & public hate figure he is universally considered today.

An actor is nothing more than a professional BS artist. Lewis was no different than any modern day producer or actor today.

It's awful when you find out someone you loved all your life is so twisted...

The sad fact is back in the day, nobody would believe them, no place to go.

"I'm different now" That is the deepest point that can't be expressed or understood unless you are actually the one who's been effected. Narcissistic people go through their lives sometimes destroying other persons identity, they never comprehend the damage they do. A victims life can be altered negatively for the rest of their life, you can't explain it, its just there. It's like a part of your existence and identity dies inside you. Twenty years later you still think about the damage every day and sometimes multiple times a day, it never goes away. Like I said, something dies inside you but you can't put a finger on it. It's something in your soul, yet the abuser never feels or understands what they have done.

I used to live outside of Las Vegas and met a few people who worked with Jerry during his telethons. No one had a kind word about him.

I had read things about him, and I just thought nahh he wouldn't do that, he's too goofy. Then when he died and it said he left nothing to his children I thought that was cruel, his present wife should have done the right thing and split his fortune between them

Grew up watching these people. Admiring them Laughing at their jokes.. I'm saddened now knowing the truth. Hollywood has truly been a fantasy for some and a nightmare for far too many.

I always felt like he was the person he played in King of Comedy

Wow. This was very well done. Jerry Lewis gave me the ickies as a kid, I grew up in 70's/80's. This was a huge time for his Labor Day telethons. Good to know that even as a kid, my red flag radar was working. At least with famous people.

I hate hearing stories like these. I believe that women, children, and the elderly should be protected at all costs. No real man would harm either.

I have an immediate family member that dealt with him when he was receiving medical treatment and said he was real jerk to be around. Very condescending.

Oh my heart breaks for these women. I was raped by an ex boyfriend. He overpowered me. I layed there stunned, paralyzed. 😢 It does affect your relationships going forward. I’m so sorry these women experienced this.

Amazing, at the end of his film career, he basically played himself, in The King of Comedy

Males who treat ladies in this manner, are not men. A man treats all women with respect.

Kind of knew Jerry Lewis was a jerk because of the way he treated Dean Martin and plus he left his son nothing in his will. Plus, when he talked you could tell he was very into himself.

It was either in the early 1970s or 1980s ; Jerry Lewis and Zsa Zsa Gabor were on the Tonight Show and Zsa Zsa said, yes, in front of Lewis that he uses a belt on his sons. Lewis DID NOT deny it, and he soon said if he had a daughter " I would use a softer belt". 😮

It was very hard for these women to talk about this so publicly , My heart goes out to these women.

In retrospect, it's clear why Dean Martin left Jerry Lewis. And Dean ended up being a far greater star and human being than Jerry, who could never come to grips with the fact that Dean never really liked him. Dean turned out to be a great comedian. Jerry never was.

Think of all of the women who never got to share their stories or were silenced or career ruined by these kinds of awful men. Very sad that this happened.

I watched this again &/- nearly cried . . . it was heartbreaking ! . . . so sad to see how these women were treated ! . . . so sad that the culprits got away with it !

Lewis always irritated me and I found him creepy! I was spot on!

Years ago, Jenny Jones (talk show host and comedienne) told a story about an experience she had with an iconic comedian that was almost identical to one of the stories here. She didn't mention him by name, but now we can hypothesize it was Jerry Lewis. He was a very talented, abusive, misogynistic creep. My heart goes out to all the women he abused and the children he denied.

I believe these ladies. My mom worked as a secretary for Muscular Dystrophy Association in New York City in the 1960’s. She told me that Jerry Lewis had a terrible temper and could be heard yelling through the office space. She left there and took a job at Avco Embassy Pictures instead. Evidently Jerry wasn’t the nice man he portrayed in movies and on tv.

Thank goodness women are now speaking up. Must have been horrible working with these men who thought they could do what they wanted and knew they would get away with it. Feel so sorry for these ladies.

The children of the Telethon complained about him. I was shocked. He has a fragile daughter who he grossly neglected as well...Dean Martin knew more than we knew I guess.

I had a feeling he was a creep when I was a kid. I would immediately leave the room when his awful movies came on TV. Just the sound of his voice makes my skin crawl.

Sure he was a bully even to his own Family. Man was a monster.

I ran into Jerry at Opryland Hotel in the late 80s, early 90s, can't say which. He glared at me in the oddest way & I truly felt that I was in the presence of evil. Scary!

My uncle worked for Universal for decades Diahann Carroll was drunk while doing her Christmas special.

Sucks to hear this. All of these women couldn't say a word back then. That's the worst. It eats away at your soul and then countless others also get abused too

These two women are very brave & it breaks my heart what they had to go through.

I can imagine that these ladies were so shocked to have gone through what they did. It's shocking to hear about what they went through.

I never thought he was funny. Mad respect to the ladies coming forward. You're stronger than you know

Sad thing is these actresses were the one to speak out, Lewis had a horrible reputation around Hollywood for abusing others, professionally and personally. How many other young women were abused by Lewis in hopes of a role in films? Sad story.. pathetic actor.

awful, i never knew this about him, terrible what he did to these women, horrible. yet i'm not completely surprised, his interviews seemed like he was self-absorbed & a bit full of himself. i didn't realize he was like this though. my gosh.

These ladies signed up for that fame fortune that's the price you pay

I read his biography because like many kids we watched the repeats, the movies, the charity drives and loved him. The biography exposed his negative behaviour. I can see the suffering in these ladies, they suffered him because of fear.

When Dean Martin couldn’t forgive him I knew something was up.

Why can't we expose these predators when they are violating us? God give us strength.

60 years later it's time to grass him up...These women need to raise the alarm as and when it happens.

Dean Martin stopped working with Lewis because he was becoming too controlling and Jerry took Dean wanting to leave as a betrayal. Lots of stories about Lewis around, including calling kids with muscular dystrophy “cripples” right before he died.

I loved Hope Holiday in The Apartment and Irma La Douce! I thought she was an excellent actress. I hope she takes heart in knowing how many people appreciate her performances.

Hope Holiday was a fabulous character actress. She worked with Billy Wilder, Jack Lemmon and Hollywoods best, and each and in every role, she stood out and grabbed you by the funny bone and your heart.

If you wanna see somebodies TRUE character, just give him POWER !!

As a child i watched the telethon’s and you could see what a rotten person he was if you paid attention to the little things. No warmth