In his first “clean interview”, troubled actor Matthew Newton has opened up about his violent past, and admitted he was completely at fault for assaults on his former girlfriends.
The 60 Minutes interview also revealed Newton had never been officially diagnosed with a mental illness, but blamed his outbursts on a “wave of terror” and feeling of “hopelessness” brought on by mental issues, causing him to feel like he was “about to die”.
Newton was charged with the assault of former girlfriend actress Brooke Satchwell in 2007, and in 2010 allegedly assaulted his then-fiancée, actress Rachel Taylor.
The following year he was charged with the assault of a taxi driver in Sydney 2011, repeatedly avoiding conviction on the grounds of mental health.
The actor revealed he had hit “rock bottom” when he was arrested for hitting a hotel clerk in the face in Miami last year.
“I was put in the back of the police car and I realised I was completely alone. I realised there were two choices: there was help, there was honestly opening myself up and asking for help, or there was nothing, there was the end,” he said.
Though he has previously blamed his violent outbursts on mental illness, Newton admitted he was at fault for assaults on former girlfriends saying “it’s never okay to hit someone” and stressed he was on the mend.
“I’m now doing everything in my human power to make sure that any events of the past don’t occur again.”
Newton told interviewer Liz Hayes that this was his first “unmedicated” interview and that he hadn’t come on the show which an agenda.
“I have come with an agenda before,” he said.
Newton’s mental illness was the focus of an interview with A Current Affair last year.
“I’m the strongest and most focused I’ve ever felt in my life,” an erratic Newton told interviewer Tracy Grimshaw.
Grimshaw said afterwards: “Matthew is mentally ill and Matthew’s mental illness is like a third presence in the room, something I had to be very aware of the whole time.”
In last night’s interivew, Newton said he was no longer on addictive medication, and that he was looking forward to getting on with his life and returning to acting.
“I want, in the second half of my life, to be an exemplary citizen, a successful professional and one day a really good parent.”
