The Twilight Saga was indeed quite the saga. To call the series a global phenomenon feels
like an understatement, but of course, with that level of fame often comes scandal, and
the cast of Twilight certainly wasn't immune. Here are the dark secrets of the movie's cast.
Kiowa Gordon ran around with Jacob Black's wolf pack as Embry Call in The Twilight Saga,
but his career hit a snag in August 2011. According to CBS News, Gordon was arrested
in Arizona on an outstanding warrant after missing his court date following an arrest
in February 2010. According to TMZ, Gordon had been pulled over for a routine registration
check but later pleaded guilty to "possession and use of drug paraphernalia and giving liquor to a minor."
Gordon wasn't the only member of the cast to have a run-in with the law, but he thankfully
seems to have bounced back. Since the Saga's conclusion, the actor has gone on to star
in films like Castle in the Ground and The Lesser Blessed, as well as The CW's Roswell, New Mexico.
By the time Breaking Dawn — Part 2 hit theaters in November 2012, it was clear that the franchise's
leading trio had tired of their roles.
"Do you have any advice for anyone who's going to be suffering from withdrawal symptoms?"
"Um… hmmm…"
But it seems that even author Stephenie Meyer had had enough of the vampire romance by then,
as well. She told Variety in 2013:
"I get further away every day. I am so over it. For me, it's not a happy place to be."
She took it one step further, vowing to never write about Bella, Edward, and Jacob unless
it was, quote, "three paragraphs on my blog saying which of the characters died." Wow.
Considering she's revisited The Twilight Saga multiple times since her above comments, it
seems as though Meyer has changed her tune. In 2020, she released Midnight Sun, a re-telling
of Twilight from Edward's perspective, and she told fans at an online Books-A-Million
event that she has plans for, quote, "two more books [...] in [that] world." While that
doesn't necessarily mean we'll see our favorite vampires and werewolves back on the big screen, we can always hope!
Director Catherine Hardwicke deserves a lot of credit for helming the first Twilight film,
a blockbuster shot on an indie shoestring budget that launched a global franchise. Still,
a decade after its release, Hardwicke has some hard feelings about how the series went
on without her. While Hardwicke told Vanity Fair that she turned down shooting 2009's
New Moon as it would, quote, "require too tight of a turnaround," she was sad to see
the female-centered and female-written series take a decidedly male turn.
Not only were there four more Twilight films, but the series paved the way for other young
adult adaptations like The Hunger Games and The Divergent Series — all of which were
directed by men. Hardwicke told the outlet in 2018:
"That was a heartbreak for me. There are other badass women out there that could have done
those [...] It goes on and on. They're stories written by women, about women, and given to male directors."
Although Twi-hards undoubtedly adored each and every member of the Twilight cast, the
feeling wasn't always mutual.
"To wrap my head around it, like, I don't know what the magic potion that Stephenie
Meyer put in there…"
In 2011, Taylor Lautner told Fox News that he understandably felt, quote, "freaked out"
when an older woman "desperately" tried to remove her pants for his autograph. According
to series co-star Elizabeth Reaser:
"Taylor was just 16 and still a boy when much older ladies would be asking me about his
body. It was just really inappropriate."
Robert Pattinson was also a bit thrown by the age of fans, telling Germany's Interview magazine in 2013:
"The real odd thing about this Twilight target group is that they aren't really teenagers.
Most of them are older."
Pattinson further told the outlet that he didn't quite understand why they were so attached
to the series in the first place, saying:
"Sometimes I ask myself what these masses of people do the whole day. They sit in front
of their computers and comment on anything having even remotely to do with Twilight."
Undoubtedly the biggest celebrity news story to come out of The Twilight Saga was the demise
of the relationship between stars Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson.
At first, it was a Hollywood fairytale: the lion had fallen in love with his lamb co-star
offscreen. Their mysterious, media-shy fling began to unravel in July 2012, after Us Weekly
published photos of Stewart with her married Snow White and the Huntsman director Rupert
Sanders. The photo bombshell dominated the tabloids, forcing Stewart to issue a public
apology to Pattinson for cheating. The couple tried to weather the storm, but wound up splitting
for good in 2013.
For what it's worth: Stewart later called her breakup from Pattinson, quote, "incredibly
painful," but described him as "the best" in a 2019 interview on The Howard Stern Show.
"I was super in love with my high school boyfriend, like super f---ing in love with him, but me
and Rob were like a little older and it was just like, 'guh-gong.'"
But Stewart noted:
"I've actually never been allowed to just say what happened [...] I was so self-conscious
about seeming like an attention seeker."
Pattinson ultimately took it in stride himself, telling Esquire in 2014:
"S--- happens, you know? It's just young people... it's normal! And honestly, who gives a s---?"
Fair enough!
Rachelle Lefevre played the villainous vampire Victoria in both Twilight and New Moon; however,
much to fan horror and confusion, the studio went in a different direction for Eclipse
and Breaking Dawn — Parts 1 and 2, replacing Lefevre with another Hollywood redhead, actress Bryce Dallas Howard.
Fans were shocked at the change and cruelty towards Lefevre, who was equally surprised,
telling E! in a statement that she was, quote, "stunned" by the decision, and had turned
down other work in order to fulfill her commitment to complete the Twilight series. According
to an E! insider, Lefevre had reportedly secured a pay raise for Eclipse, so when a potential
scheduling conflict came up, the studio might have seen an opportunity to, quote, "save
a lot of money by recasting her."
"The circumstances around it had nothing to do with us.”
"The way the business is, there's this notion that it's competitive, and that's actually
not the case at all."
Regardless, Lefevre maintained she was, quote, "deeply hurt" by the decision. When Twilight
director Catherine Hardwicke came forward to say that the studio had always wanted Howard
for the role and cast Lefevre when Howard wasn't available, it only added insult to injury.
Robert Pattinson may have portrayed the mind-reading vampire Edward Cullen in The Twilight Saga,
but he couldn't quite read the room when it came to his career for a while. In May 2017,
Pattinson revealed to The New York Times that his rebellious behavior on the set of the
first Twilight movie almost got him fired, until his agents flew in to, quote, "straighten
him out." He told the outlet:
"I didn't have to kiss anybody's [a--] the entire time. I don't think I did, anyway."
However, Pattinson said he now looks back on the Twilight movies as, quote, "an amazing luxury," adding:
"[It was] amazing luck, as well, t o just have fallen into it with the group of people
I worked with on it."
The Twilight Saga's success didn't just affect the actors who played Edward, Bella, and Jacob.
The Twi-hards went crazy for every member of the Cullen clan — including Ashley Greene,
who portrayed the adorably quirky sister, Alice — from the series' premiere onward.
The actress told Allure in 2011:
"All of us essentially were unknown. So everyone kind of went through this crazy whirlwind [together.]"
"We were all young and having fun, and so we all hung out."
That kind of fame comes with its downsides, like in 2009, when compromising photos of
Greene were leaked online.
Greene and her family seemed to keep a good sense of humor about it, as the actress told the magazine:
"One of my family members said to me, 'Ashley, everyone does it. You're just famous.'"
Still, the Pan Am star made it clear that a boundary had been crossed. Greene lawyered
up and let everyone know through a statement from her attorney that she intended to sue
anyone who posted the photos or shared them online.
Bronson Pelletier, who played a member of Jacob's wolf pack, had a public relations
nightmare on his hands after exhibiting some very bad behavior at LAX in December 2012.
According to TMZ, the Twilight star was reportedly first kicked off a plane after he was deemed
too intoxicated to fly by officers. He was then told to wait for another flight, during
which he allegedly began urinating by the gate. Cops returned to the scene and arrested
him for public intoxication.
After the incident, TMZ discovered another dark secret in Pelletier's closet: just one
week prior, he had been arrested for felony methamphetamine and cocaine possession at
a bar. Pelletier was later sentenced to two years' probation for the peeing incident.
It seems the mishap didn't hold him back for too long, though. Pelletier made his return
to film with 2015's Fishing Naked, and has nabbed additional big screen roles since.
In March 2013, the West Hollywood, California condo of Ashley Greene was destroyed in a
fire that killed one of her two dogs. According to TMZ, the fire, which began while the Twilight
star, her boyfriend, and brother were sleeping, was initially believed to have been started
by a candle. As if that wasn't tragic enough, the story took a dark twist in October 2014,
when the building's manager alleged that a glass pipe had been found inside Greene's
apartment after the fire had occurred.
No evidence of a crack pipe was discovered; however, Greene still wound up having to settle
a lawsuit filed by the building's doorman, which claimed he had been hurt , quote, "while
running through the smoke-filled hallways, yelling for residents to flee." After a years-long
battle, Greene finally settled "for an undisclosed amount" in 2016, per TMZ.
Nikki Reed, who portrayed the gorgeous Rosalie Cullen, rose to fame in 2003, when she and
eventual Twilight director Catherine Hardwicke co-wrote the movie Thirteen, based on Reed's
tumultuous upbringing. The risqué coming-of-age film didn't shy away from some pretty heavy themes.
While Thirteen was critically acclaimed, Reed later admitted she, quote, "wasn't ready"
for fame at age 15, and that the film had hindered her relationship with her parents.
She told Zooey magazine in 2012:
"It was from one kid's perspective and not a well rounded one. You get older and it's
like, how dare I portray my father as being a totally vacant, careless schmuck?"
"I think about what my parents must have gone through, and I just have to say, you know,
I really applaud them."
She also appears to have a good relationship with her mother, which, for anyone who saw
Thirteen, will come as a sigh of relief.
Reed's relationship with her Twilight cast mates, however? Not as great. The actress
told Seventeen in 2011:
"In the beginning, it was innocent and fun [...] And then success comes along and changes
the dynamic. We're not all best friends, and we're not all going to hang out together after
the final movie is done."
Despite having high-profile romances with the likes of Taylor Swift and Lily Collins,
Taylor Lautner often battled gay rumors in real life. Speculation reached a fever pitch
in 2014, when the Twilight star was photographed at a West Hollywood gay bar, sending the world
of social media into a speculation frenzy. Funnily enough, it was a gay underwear model
who officially put the rumors to rest shortly after. After sharing his photo with Lautner
at the bar, Murray Swanby jokingly wrote:
"If Taylor Lautner was coming out, I would have taken him home Thursday night."
As for the Abduction star, it seems his shirtless werewolf days are far behind him. These days,
he leads a fairly low-profile life and has been in a relationship with Tay Dome, a nurse,
since 2018, according to the Daily Mail.
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