Eddie Murphy was one of the brightest comedy stars in Hollywood, but things have changed
after numerous scandals around his controversial jokes and chaotic personal life.
Murphy was involved in the incident with a transgender prostitute, became a father of
ten kids from five women, starred in a bunch of flop movies and then... disappeared?
Well, not exactly, but we didn’t hear much from the comedian until 2019 when he starred
in the Netflix biopic “Dolemite Is My Name” and hosted “Saturday Night Live” for the
first time in 35 years.
What can we expect from the 58-year-old Murphy, who finally returned from hibernation and
claims that he’s a completely different person now?
Before you figure it out, subscribe to the “Rumour Juice” YouTube channel for exciting
celebrity stories.
We won’t justify Eddie Murphy by saying that the reason for his controversial behavior
was hidden in the unpleasant childhood, but we can’t deny it either.
Murphy was raised by single mum Lillian in Brooklyn, New York. When she became too ill
to look after Eddie and his brother, she put the kids into foster care, where they stayed
for one year.
The comedian’s father, Charles, was a policeman. He split from Lillian when Murphy was only
three years old and died five years later.
Murphy’s older brother Charlie stepped up to serve as Eddie’s protector whenever he
could. Eddie was understandably traumatized by the loss of his father, but Charlie did
his best to be his brother’s rock.
The youngest Murphy decided to overcome the tragedy of his father’s death through laughter.
Besides, Charles Murphy used to be an amateur comic and actor himself, which could have
been the reason for Eddie’s career choice.
During his time at high school, Murphy regularly tried out stand-up routines on the fellow
students, who loved his impromptu performances.
Despite the tough childhood, Eddie credits the hard times with developing his razor sharp
and wicked sense of humor.
Sometimes too wicked, huh?
By the age of 16, Eddie was doing stand-ups at local
clubs, and three years later he got his first big break on “Saturday Night Live”. It
would be fair to claim that he reinvented the show and single-handedly saved it from
cancellation.
In 1983 Murphy performed his “Delirious” show that became hugely popular and influential
despite widespread accusations of homophobia.
However controversial it was, the scandals around the comedian’s personal life appeared
to be much louder than the ones caused by his intolerant jokes.
Murphy’s first son Eric was born circa 1989 with the actor’s then-girlfriend Paulette
McNeely, and his second son, Christian, was born a few months later with the actor’s
other girlfriend Tamara Hood. Then he started dating Nicole Mitchel, who eventually became
his wife. They have five kids together.
Perhaps the biggest scandal to shake up Murphy’s public persona occured in 1997, when the police
pulled him over at a notorious cruising spot in Los Angeles with a transgender prostitute.
Murphy insisted he was just giving her a lift, but the prostitute claimed the comedian wanted
to see her in her lingerie. Murphy threatened with a lawsuit but later dropped it – shortly
before the prostitute was found dead on the pavement outside her apartment. It is thought
she was locked out and fell five floors to her death while trying to climb in. The comedian
never commented on it.
Meanwhile, his private life was in turmoil again. He divorced Nicole and began dating
Spice Girl Mel B. She claimed they were in love, planning to marry and had each other’s
signatures tattooed on their thighs. However, when she became pregnant, Murphy – at this
time father to seven kids by three women – publicly questioned the child’s paternity.
Here’s what he told a Dutch reporter in one of the interviews:
“I don’t know whose child that is until it comes out and has a blood test.”
Eventually Murphy was confirmed as the child’s father. By then, he was already engaged – not
to Mel B though, but to a film producer Tracey Edmonds.
They held a ceremony on New Year’s Day on a private island near Bora Bora and... split
14 days later without making the marriage legally binding.
In 2012, Eddie started dating model Paige Butcher and has settled into family life with
their two young children.
In December 2018 the Internet was hit by the photo of Murphy with all ten of his kids.
A year later, Eddie claimed that they all promised to come to the studio and see him
hosting “Saturday Night Live”.
The comedian’s daughter Bria posted the photo from the show in her Instagram account
and left a very nice comment to it:
“My dad is such a King!!! Last night was epic!!! So proud!!!”
However, we doubt that Murphy has always been on king’s pedestal, and it’s not about
his fatherly qualities: what we mean is the actor’s numerous professional flops.
In the early 2000s, Eddie Murphy landed some box office classics with “Nutty Professor
II” and his famous voiceover role in “Shrek”, but then the actor was featured in “The
Adventures of Pluto Nash”, “Imagine That”, “Meet Dave”, “Tower Heist”, “A Thousand
Words” and “Mr. Church”, which were recognized as unsuccessful by the public and
critics.
In 2011 Forbes described Murphy as the second most overpaid star in Hollywood, who was “in
a desperate need for some career rehab”.
He once reasoned that crashes and burns are just a part of the process, but at some point
many believed Murphy’s career will never be recovered.
Some film critics suggested that after Murphy got comfortable as a top-notch actor in Hollywood,
the industry watered him down, others believed that the comedian’s brand of humor simply
stopped fitting, and it was the real reason why Hollywood stopped casting the comedian.
On the other hand, it could have also been Murphy’s decision to give up casting.
Here’s what he said in tell-all “Rolling Stone” interview back in 2011:
“After all these years, I've done well and I'm cool. I feel comfortable in my skin, I've
saved some paper, everybody's healthy, my kids are beautiful and smart, doing different
things, it's all good. I'm trying to maintain my sh*t like this, and do a fun project every
now and then.”
For some people, it's surprising that Eddie Murphy has slowed down his acting career,
but those who've been following him closely know that he had a retirement plan as an actor.
During the “Today” show in 2008 Murphy said he was going to make movies until he
was 50, and then go back on stage.
Well, that might be why he went into hibernation right after he turned 50.
Or maybe he was just tired of making terrible movies? While opening up about the possibility
of making “Beverly Hills Cop 4” on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show” in 2013, Murphy admitted
he's no longer just accepting any scripts thrown at him.
Unexpectedly enough, the “Beverly Hills Cop” franchise was recently picked up by
Netflix. Moreover, it seems like Netflix’s producers decided to fuel every step of the
comedian’s return to the business.
Over the years Murphy has teased fans with talk of a big comeback, but this time he meant
it. And, like any good comeback, it needed to be prefaced by a major publication – in
Murphy’s case, it was an interview for the New York Times.
Here’s Eddie’s comment on “Dolemite Is My Name”:
“I didn’t want to just pop back up. I wanted a funny movie to remind them that they
liked me. This movie turned out so strong that I figured this is a great way to come
back.”
However, “Dolemite Is My Name” was more than just a funny movie for Eddie: he dedicated
it to his older brother Charlie, who was also an actor and comedian.
Charlie Murphy died in 2017 after a battle with leukemia. TMZ reported that the comic
had been undergoing chemotherapy treatment and his family had thought Charlie had been
getting better.
Charlie’s death must have been another turning point in Eddie’s life.
One of the most interesting and candid moments of the New York Times interview is the one
where Murphy reflected on his two legendary comedy specials, “Delirious” and “Raw”,
and looked back on some of his jokes.
The Brooklyn-born funnyman said rewatching “Raw” made him cringe. He said afterwards
that the old stand-up set, full of homophobic jokes and bits on sexually transmitted infections,
divorce and defecation, was a bit much.
He said that cocky statements about women and relationships reminded him of break-ups
he was going through back then. Then came one of the biggest revelations:
“I was a young guy processing a broken heart, you know, kind of an a**hole”.
Murphy apologized for all the controversial materials and promised to be mushier after
his return to the industry. It doesn’t seem like Murphy tried to excuse his past decisions
– it was rather a hopeful promise for the future ones.
The comedian’s recent statements are supported by his philanthropic endeavors: with a net
worth of $160 million dollars, he has donated to a number of foundations including the AIDS
foundation, charities for homelessness, creative arts and cancer patients. He also donated
to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center and to the Screen Actors Guild.
It sounds like Eddie Murphy has changed a lot, and so has his perspective on his career.
Maybe he will never recover the status of Hollywood’s sure thing, but does he need
it after all?
Besides, thanks to his signed deal with Netflix, Eddie has a theatre tour lined up, which means
he could be in clubs working out jokes very soon – just like in the good old eighties,
huh?
Considering stand-up comedy was one of his first loves, it seems only right for Murphy's
career to come full circle to where everything started.
Yeah, this might be the second coming of Eddie Murphy...
In 2011, he promised “Rolling” Stone to have a really great show should he ever get
back on stage.
While the hardest thing for comics nowadays is to find their voice, the hardest thing
for Murphy is to prove that he didn’t lose his and evolved a lot – both as a comedian
and as a human being.
And let’s hope for his great new shows!