Jonathan Rhys Meyers ran into trouble with the law following a “minor” car crash. The actor, born in Ireland in 1977, was “involved in a minor collision and charged with DUI and arrested,” which the LA County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson, Deputy Tina Schrader, confirmed with HollywoodLife on Nov. 10, 2020. The famous actor is “no longer in custody at this time and was released on Monday November 9th,” the spokesperson added.
Jonathan’s wife, actress Mara Lane, seemed to speak out following her husband’s arrest. A day after Jonathan was released from custody, Mara shared a video of the actor playing with their son Wolf — whom they welcomed in 2016 — playing at the pool. “More happy highlights. I feel since so many of our lowlights seem to find their way on the web, fair to share some happy moments so when Wolf is older, he can search/find/see/remember the happies,” Mara wrote on Instagram. She continued, “#HealingWaters Each day is a gift. Tomorrow a new day. Count your many blessings, hold yourself accountable and grow, heal, recover, keep moving towards your goals, thank God, angels, loved ones and carry on.”
Learn more about Jonathan, who has been battling alcoholism for years while taking on famous roles on the big and small screen:
1. Jonathan has starred in a number of recognizable films. Jonathan made his film debut in the 1994 movie A Man of No Importance, and since then, has gained fame for his leading roles in movies like Velvet Goldmine alongside Toni Collette (whom he even dated), Bend It Like Beckham, Vanity Fair, Mission: Impossible III and The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.
2. He’s known for his depiction of famous historical characters. Jonathan is most famous, however, for a slew of TV roles in which he depicted famous men from the past. He won a Golden Globe Award for depicting Elvis in the 2005 CBS mini-series of the same name, and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards for his role as King Henry VIII in The Tudors, which aired between 2007-2010. He also played Dracula/Alexander Grayson in Dracula, which ran on TV between 2013-2014, and played Heahmund on the History channel series Vikings for episodes that aired between 2017-2018.
3. He’s a musician, too. Jonathan is actually able to sing and play the guitar, which has allowed him to tackle a number of musical roles. Jonathan sang two songs on the Velvet Goldmine soundtrack — “Baby’s on Fire” and “Tumbling Down” — and also has credits for four of the songs on the August Rush soundtrack.
5. This isn’t his first arrest. Jonathan has been arrested multiple times over reported drunken incidents; once at the Dublin Airport in 2007, and then at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle airport in 2009. Then, in 2018, Jonathan was detained following a flight with his wife, Mara, which landed in Los Angeles. The actor was allegedly caught vaping and had been arguing with his wife, but there “was no domestic incident or smoking incident that had occurred and found that there was no crime,” which an LAX public information officer told Us Weekly at the time.
Jonathan later explained the 2018 incident in an interview with Larry King, telling the talk show host, “When my wife found that I’d ordered a drink, she got very, very angry with me because I shouldn’t drink. It doesn’t suit me and I had been sober for a long time.”
4. Jonathan has been treated for alcohol addiction. The Tudors star has made multiple trips to rehab since 2005, and relapsed after his wife suffered a miscarriage in 2017. Mara was the one who revealed her husband’s relapse in an emotional Instagram post, which read, “To some others, my husband is an Irishman who battles alcoholism and depression and drank between jobs to try to cope with the sadness of this news. I am trying to and still learning/adjusting to living with the public, like one would as a concerned mother-in-law.”