Category — Matthew Newton

This is starting to sound like Groundhog Day, with news that Matthew Newton has been arrested in Miami and charged with Battery and resisting arrest.

Matthew Newton is alleged to have punched the hotel clerk at the place he was saying, and somehow the Daily Telegraph managed to obtain CCTV footage of the incident. All in all it does look rather bizarre, and I suspect with all the chatter about his previous arrest the Florida Police will ensure the paper work stands up to scrutiny.

Matthew is currently out on bail. But seriously shouldn’t he be brought home until his court date, the guy is clearly not well. His diagnosed with bipolar and obsessive compulsive disorder, however appears to be not being controlled very well.  Acting life coaching classes are not the solution, and nor is he travelling with a nurse moderating his behaviour. Is the nurse even psych trained or worked in this field?

Matthew’s family have come out saying they are supporting him and so they should, as he needs some serious help and he also needs to obtain some insight into both his disorder and his anger management issues.

As usual his lawyer Chris Murphy is firing up over Twitter which of course keeps the story going. News.com.au wrote an article on him blocking people who disagreed with his defence of Matthew. I think Chris Murphy needs to maybe take himself off Twitter for a few days as yet again his PR campaign is getting more negative publicity for the troubled actor.

Matt Newton who was arrested last week in the USA has found one supporter in his lawyer Chris Murphy who appears to have morphed into his public relations manager.

He has been constantly tweeting since his arrest to try and put his view on the evening events. However maybe he should realise that his tweets actually continued the Matt Newton story today. Basically he added a new dimension to the story by putting out some denials on behalf of his client.

It should be noted he does not charge Matt Newton for his services.

He also tweeted this:

News:Matthew Newton. Statement from a highly regarded, Christian Minister/Psychologist who had been counselling MN in Miami ‘ When I went the bar, I asked to see the manager. I asked him if he had been there that night, that a friend of mine had been arrested. He said, “the australian”. Not in a derogatory way, but just as an identifier. I then asked if he could tell me what happened. He was very vague about how much Matt had to drink there, but said he was with a few other people. Apparently they asked him to leave and he went out and sat on their tables on the sidewalk. Then I guess they called the cops or there was a cop on the street. They asked him to leave and he did and then came back. The manager said the cops were being nice telling him to come back tomorrow. Matt didn’t leave and so they arrested him. The manager kept saying he was hammered.’

The Minister attended the scene the day after the incident. He had spent time in a professional meeting with Newton prior to the arrest event.

Other press reports state that the bar manager said Newton had ‘one beer’. Newton does not drink beer and witnesses state he had no alcohol at the Bar.

What I find interesting that Chris Murphy implies because a  Christian Minister investigated the incident that his findings should be given creedence.

In fact does it matter if alcohol was involved or not as that was not why he was arrested. Allegedly the charges are for trespassing and resisting arrest nothing to do with intoxication.

Personally I think Chris Murphy has to STFU and realise that every time he tweets about Matt Newton he is reminding the general populous that his client has bashed women and has a mental illness. Basically Chris Murphy should kill the yarn not continue to create one.

Former X Factor host Matthew Newton has been arrested again, but this time in Miami, USA.

He has been charged with  resisting police and trespassing on property after a warning.

The Daily Telegraph reports:

On Thursday evening (EDT), it is believed the actor was drinking at Mr. Moe’s Restaurant and Bar in Miami, Florida with two friends when asked to leave the premises.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph today, Mr Moe’s store manager ‘Jason’ said the actor was “belligerent” and refused to leave the venue.

“He was really drunk and was asked to leave a few times,” the manager said.

“He kept coming back so they arrested him. He tried to fight back against police which is where I imagine he got the bruise to his face, despite his friend trying to move him away,” he added.

How did he actually get a visa to get into the USA or is it because he has up until this point avoided a criminal record that he slipped through the loopholes?

His lawyer Chris Murphy has come out and defended him saying.

However lawyer Chris Murphy took to Twitter to vigorously defend his client.

“Matthew Newton is in Miami to attend arranged appointments with medical experts. He is being cared for by a health professional,” Mr Murphy said.

Chris Murphy has come out fighting for Matt Newton in court today saying there are hundreds of photos that will absolve him from the alleged assault of a taxi driver.

News.com.au writes:

Lawyer Chris Murphy says 867 photographs recording, second-by-second, the alleged incident show “there is no assault”.

He said his 35-year-old client was not in court today on the advice of his psychiatrist.

Newton, the son of showbusiness couple Bert and Patti Newton, caught a taxi on December 4 last year and allegedly punched the 66-year-old driver in the head.

Mr Murphy said two witnesses, one in a car and one on the footpath, say there was no assault.

The lawyer said while he would love to defend the case, he must put his client’s interest first.

He said due to Newton’s mental illness, it would not be fair for him to face a lengthy hearing.

He is therefore considering applying to have the case dealt with under mental health provisions.

The magistrate adjourned the case to March 27 to allow Mr Murphy to make representations to the police about not continuing the case.

Not sure Matthew Newton is ever going to recover from this. It must be tough on him, tough on his victims and tough on his family.

There is a general consensus that Matt Newton’s performing career is officially over.

Matt Newton yesterday was charged with assaulting a taxi driver.

The Daily Telegraph reports the incident occurred on Sunday 4 December at 10.30am. It is alleged he assaulted a 66 year old taxi driver.

“The driver alleges he then became aggressive and punched (the taxi driver) in the head,” a police spokesman said.

Both parties got out of the car and Newton is alleged to have hit the driver again. The night before he was seen hanging out in his old haunt Kings Cross, starting with a dinner at Mexican eatery Barrio Chino with long-time lawyer Chris Murphy.

Mr Murphy said in a statement Newton intended to defend the charges.

“The footage taken within the taxi does not show any assault within the vehicle as alleged,” Mr Murphy said.

Maybe Matt asked to go to the airport and the taxi driver did not know where it was….

Seriously Matt Newton who is on the record for saying suffers from bipolar disorder, OCD, and post traumatic stress syndrome (he has not stated what the trauma was the precipitated the syndrome), will struggle to regain performing work even if he is found innocent of this charge.

A few weeks ago Matt Newton was on ACA talking about his mental illness but at the time drew criticism for not making a public apology to his former girlfriends. In the interview he blamed is mental illness and also said he was violent towards men as well.

Reality TV has been a way former celebrities have rehabilitated themselves however I suspect even he could not get a gig on Celebrity Apprentice. His only hope is getting a gig on an Australian version of Celebrity Rehab.

I find this story quite sad for all involved especially Rachel Taylor and Brooke Satchwell who must find it difficult each time this story hits the media.

As everyone in the Australia must now know that Kyle Sandiland’s made an unwarranted and personal attack on a News Limited journalist last week which has resulted in inches of publicity and resulted in sponsors pulling ads from the network.

Props should go to News Limited for supporting their employee in this situation. It is a pity those same sponsors did not remove advertising when Kyle inappropriately asked a 14 year old girl who she had had sex with after she had revealed she had been sexually abused.

However unfortunately for that girl she did not have a huge media organisation behind her. Though Channel Ten did sack him from Australian Idol, and Idol sunk that year.

Kyle tried to defend himself last week by saying he was an equal opportunity arsehole, and is was just as harsh on males as well as females.

Now it appears Matt Newton is using the ‘I am a prick to everyone’ defence. He apparently hits guys as well as girls.

Well that is what Matt Newton’s lawyer Chris Murphy is saying.

The Daily Telegraph writes:

MATTHEW Newton’s closest confidant says people should lay off the troubled actor because he didn’t just hit women – he hit men too.

Biting back at Newton’s “orgy” of haters on Twitter, the actor’s lawyer Chris Murphy says Bert and Patti’s son didn’t discriminate when it came to violent outbursts because he is mentally ill.

He praises Newton for having the courage to talk of his struggles on A Current Affair last week, saying Newton had admitted to “violent incidents with both genders”.

Newton has been living with Murphy since he left a Sydney clinic recently.

Murphy has been Newton’s lawyer for many years, representing him in 2006 when he was charged over the assault of then-girlfriend Brooke Satchwell.

It was Murphy who first made public Newton’s mental health issues, when he used them as a defence to the Satchwell assault charges.

Murphy claims that stories about Newton had been twisted to focus solely on his violence towards women, such as well-documented incidents with ex-girlfriends Rachael Taylor and Satchwell, when he also had been physically aggressive towards his male best friend and other men.

Murphy tweets that Newton hit men – “friends and strangers. It’s called mental illness.”

There has also been debate around the Matt Newton issue, saying that he refused to take responsibility for his violent behaviour and that he blamed it on his mental illness. The ACA interview was the first step in trying to rehabilitate him to the public, something that will be extremely difficult.

What I found interesting in the Matt Newton interview was that he said he was glad to be get help as he “…had enough of the noise”. Was this some noise that he was continually hearing in his head? Not sure if this was a symptom of his post traumatic stress disorder, the bipolar or OCD.

Prediction: Kyle will survive out of this furore, as he will go on ice for a couple of months then be wheeled out for the next ratings period. Also Channel Seven have been silent on the issue and at this stage he is still a judge on Australia’s Got Talent for 2012. Let’s face it everyone knows Kyle is a prick, he would do more damage to his brand if he suddenly became the Mother Theresa of breakfast radio.

Matt Newton has broken his silence on his mental illness in an interview with A Current Affair (click here if you want to watch it).

However one of the things I would like to know is who is advising him and crafting his media rehabilitation? Only a couple of days ago I read in the paper that an Underbelly producer would hire him again, and now he is giving interviews. Also there was an article in one of the gossip magazines that he had a new much younger girlfriend.

The Herald Sun reports on the interview he was happy to talk about his mental illness, apparently he is a manic depressive, and a obsessive compulsive disorder.

The article states:

MATTHEW Newton admits he was mad, bad and dangerous before he was treated for the mental illness that threatened his career.

The troubled actor broke his silence about his crippling mental health issues and self-destructive and violent behaviour in an interview with A Current Affair last night.

But he opted not to go into detail about his alleged violence towards former fiancee Rachael Taylor and another former girlfriend, Brooke Satchwell.

Nor did he offer either woman a direct apology.

“Harming anyone is horrible,” Newton said.

“It is intolerable to harm a woman, it is intolerable to harm your best friend, several of your best friends, and it is intolerable to harm yourself and I have done all those things, and I utterly regret it.”

And he would not comment on his rumoured drug use, saying: “Drugs were never a problem for me.”

Newton, who was admitted to a Sydney psychiatric clinic last August following his Rome meltdown over Taylor, has spent seven months under going treatment for manic depression and severe obssessive compulsive disorder.

“I was a bit mad, bad and dangerous to know,” he said of his pre-treatment days.

“Mental illness does not discriminate, does not discriminate male, female, black, white. People who are around you they are the ones who get hurt in the wake of these frenzied episodes.

“It is not about respect for one sex or another, I was a walking time bomb.”

Newton said he had harmed himself on numerous occasions during his manic periods.

“I would run at walls. There is an imprint of me somewhere, of my whole body, in a wall.

“It is like you want to rip your brain out of your head, put it under a tap, wash it clean and then put it back in your skull and you can’t do that and you don’t know why.

“I didn’t think I was mentally ill, as ridiculous as that sounds after what I’ve just described.”

Newton said he was in one of the happiest periods of his life when he and Taylor went to Rome.

But the trip ended in disaster, with Newton saying he had a “total meltdown”.

“I went berserk, I went nuts. I guess I wanted to kill myself.”

Not sure that mental illness is an excuse for violence against women, as it appears there was some repetitive behaviour there.

However do you think Matthew Newton should get a chance to resurrect his career?

The Daily Telegraph reports the former host of The X Factor Matthew Newton was rushed to hospital this week with stomach pains.

His lawyer Chris Murphy tweeted it was a stomach inflammation, he is not back in his psychiatric hospital. Earlier in the week he was in court defending a breach of his AVO that his former girlfriend Rachael Taylor has out against him.

I really think it is time he is left alone by the media, my self included, as I get the feeling it is turning into a witch hunt.

No I don’t condone the violence he has shown against the women in his life, but I am really feeling uncomfortable and think what the media want is a suicide attempt or something worse then that.

This is when you have to be a mother and Patti Newton thankfully turned up in court to provide some support to her son Matthew Newton.

Matthew was in Downing St today to respond to breaching his AVO against former girlfriend Rachael Taylor.

He rang her and then texted her to apologise for phoning her.

Interestingly enough his lawyer said he will be applying under the section 32 of the Mental Health Act in his next court appearance.

It has been reported previously that his mental illness does not have a diagnosis.

Anyway it was good to see Patti Newton finally give some unconditional love to her son and be there with him. Instead of telling the world about their family troubles on national TV. Quite frankly I would like to know where Bert was.

Matt Newton has booked himself back into a private hospital where hopefully he is getting the treatment he requires.

Source: SMH

UPDATE: The Daily Telegraph reports that Patti wants him to move back to Melbourne, but he is refusing to do so. The article also states that Matthew was looking medicated in the court room. Ok that is how I am interpreting the dazed and confused phrase.

Matthew Newton is continuing to struggle in the real world, with the news yesterday that he was being charged with breaching his AVO which Rachel Taylor took out against him.

He has now returned to rehab.

The Daily Telegraph reveals that he was bombarding her with phone calls and messages. This seem to coincide with the news she was in a new relationship with actor Josh Lawson. She lives with him in Los Angeles.

The article states:

In his latest derailment, it is understood Taylor was bombarded by “multiple calls and text messages” from her 34-year-old ex-boyfriend in the weeks following his release from Northside West clinic in Westmead in December.

Despite reports touting his fitness push on the road to recovery,Newton is said to have “unravelled” at news Taylor had begun a relationship with her 25 film co-star Josh Lawson.

He just always thought she would take him back. Going through rehab was about showing her he was doing the work so they could be together again,” a source close to Newton said.

Her former lover is said to have gone “missing” for three days after Taylor’s romance was revealed about a fortnight ago.

That is about the same time Taylor told her legal team Newton had made contact – reportedly up to 40 times in one day. “She was upset because she thought she’d put the break-up behind her,” an insider said. “It appears he’s just reached out to the people he’s turned to before.”

The alleged breaches were immediately raised with police, who conducted “reverse call” surveillance of Taylor’s phone, tracking all incoming activity. The trace was completed last weekend.

Police will allege there were dozens of text messages.

Newton was subsequently summonsed to Kings Cross police station, where he presented himself for questioning about 5pm Tuesday.

He was charged with contravening the terms of an AVO and using a telephone to harass, menace or intimidate. If found guilty, Newton could be jailed for two years.

Chances of Bert and Patti appearing on A Current Affair again is zero. Matt does appear to be unravelling and hopefully he will continue to get help and support it appears to need. As having is every move reported on must not be helping his fragile mental state.

UPDATE: The SMH are reporting that his manager Titus Day again severed ties with him last Friday, and that he may have financial difficulties. They also say it was only one text message.