Actress Uma Thurman has experienced more in one week than most people would care to deal with in a single lifetime.
On Tuesday, the Kill Bill star's stalker, Jack Jordan, was convicted for stalking and aggravated harassment. Two days later, French make-up giant Lancome filed a preemptory lawsuit against her. All of this comes on the heels of her most recent movie release, The Life Before Her Eyes, which has been a dud at the box office and a critical bomb as well. That film was preceded by her 2006 critical bomb/box office failure, Super Ex-Girlfriend.
On Wednesday, Thurman, 38, received some good news when her stalker, Jack Jordan, was convicted of stalking and aggravated harassment. Thurman had given tearful testimony in court earlier describing how she feared Jordan would escalate his attention toward her. Jordan, 37, apparently became obsessed with the actress five years ago and had a strong urge to meet with her in person, so as to woo her and win her affection.
Jordan made good on his promise in 2005, when he showed up on the set of Thurman's Super Ex-Girlfriend, which had been filming in Manhattan. According to the Washington Post, he "hand-delivered to her trailer a card that showed a stick figure balanced on a razor blade, over a grave," as well as a postcard that said, "My hands should be on your body at all times." He apparently also mentioned her "children and claimed that they didn't exist."
Jordan had also gotten a hold of Thurman's father's e-mail address and began sending him messages as if he were addressing Ms. Thurman. Jordan's unwanted attentions eventually escalated to the point that he would call her on her phone repeatedly and even come up to her apartment door and knock incessantly. Thurman ignored him hoping he would simply go away.
According to a Wall Street Journal reporter who was one of the jury members in the case, the guilty decision "was easy for us: The nonstop doorbell-ringing, accompanied by a letter like this, clearly sounded like intent to harass, annoy, threaten or alarm."
Jordan will have a sentencing hearing on June 2 where he could face up to one year in jail.
On Wednesday, however, Thurman's fortunes went in the opposite direction. Lancome, the French cosmetics giant, filed suit against the actress claiming the company did not violate a contract with her, which is counter to what she had allegedly been insinuating.
Lancome claimed Thurman had been threatening to sue them for breach of contract. She signed an agreement with the make-up manufacturers in 2000 to appear as a celebrity face or representative for the company; a contract which had since expired. Thurman allegedly had expressed dismay that her likeness was still being used on billboards in Canada and websites based out of Asia, despite no longer being contractually linked to Lancome.
Thurman's heavyweight Hollywood lawyer, Bertram Fields, was stunned by the lawsuit. According to The Canadian Press, Fields believed Thurman and Lancome had been "negotiating in good faith," to come to a mutual agreement on how to settle the dispute. Fields added, "I guess the French decided to strike a pre-emptive blow."
Fields, however, did not appear dismayed by the latest turn of events. "I'm delighted that the case will go before a jury," Fields declared. "They [Lancome] got an enormous benefit throughout the world after the contract was over, and $1 million doesn't begin to do it."
Lancome attorneys argued their case by stating that they "can’t control everybody out in the world."
Fields countered with, "Lancome's own website carried her likeness."
Kind of makes the dismal box office performance and critical pasting of her latest film, The Life Before Her Eyes, pale in comparison.
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