On Monday, we discussed the situation with Nate Parker, who is the writer/director/producer/star of The Birth of a Nation. The film – about the Nat Turner Rebellion – was getting Oscar buzz as soon as it debuted at Sundance this year. But as many quickly learned, Parker is a problematic person – he was charged with and put on trial for raping a fellow student at Penn State in 1999. He was acquited, but his roommate was not, and then on appeal, the guilty verdict was overturned and dismissed on the roommate (who is a cowriter on TBOAN). Parker is looking at months of press and he hopes to be the centerpiece of a major Oscar campaign. So he tried to get ahead of the stories by doing an exclusive interview with Deadline over the weekend – go here to read my coverage.

As some commenters pointed out in that post, the alleged rape victim is no longer alive. She died by suicide in 2012, although Deadline didn’t point that out in their story with Parker this weekend. The Hollywood Reporter sent out this story on Tuesday:

The woman at the center of the sexual assault case shadowing The Birth of a Nation director-writer-star Nate Parker is dead, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. While THR won’t reveal her name because she was the victim of an alleged rape, records indicate that a woman whose name, age, physical location and other details that match the accuser’s in the 1999 sexual assault incident at Penn State died on April 15, 2012. She was 30 years old. Publicly available legal documents and numerous news reports and social media postings have shown that the accuser tried repeatedly to commit suicide in the weeks and months following her accusation against Parker and his friend and Birth of a Nation collaborator Jean Celestin and her eventual withdrawal from Penn State.

According to an interview with the woman’s brother, who identified himself as Johnny in an interview with Variety, the woman committed suicide and overdosed on sleeping pills. “She became detached from reality,” he told the outlet. “The progression was very quick and she took her life.”

[From THR]

I do not know if Nate Parker was unaware of his alleged victim’s suicide, although Deadline did point out that the young woman attempted suicide just weeks after her accusations against Parker and his roommate. Now we know that she died by her own hand 13 years later. Nate Parker posted a message on his Facebook in the wake of this news – claiming that he was unaware – and you can read the full piece here. He says that he is “devastated” and:

Over the last several days, a part of my past – my arrest, trial and acquittal on charges of sexual assault – has become a focal point for media coverage, social media speculation and industry conversation. I understand why so many are concerned and rightfully have questions. These issues of a women’s right to be safe and of men and women engaging in healthy relationships are extremely important to talk about, however difficult. And more personally, as a father, a husband, a brother and man of deep faith, I understand how much confusion and pain this incident has had on so many, most importantly the young woman who was involved.

I myself just learned that the young woman ended her own life several years ago and I am filled with profound sorrow…I can’t tell you how hard it is to hear this news. I can’t help but think of all the implications this has for her family. I cannot- nor do I want to ignore the pain she endured during and following our trial. While I maintain my innocence that the encounter was unambiguously consensual, there are things more important than the law. There is morality; no one who calls himself a man of faith should even be in that situation. As a 36-year-old father of daughters and person of faith, I look back on that time as a teenager and can say without hesitation that I should have used more wisdom.

I look back on that time, my indignant attitude and my heartfelt mission to prove my innocence with eyes that are more wise with time. I see now that I may not have shown enough empathy even as I fought to clear my name. Empathy for the young woman and empathy for the seriousness of the situation I put myself and others in. I cannot change what has happened. I cannot bring this young woman who was someone else’s daughter, someone’s sister and someone’s mother back to life… I have changed so much since nineteen. I’ve grown and matured in so many ways and still have more learning and growth to do. I have tried to conduct myself in a way that honors my entire community – and will continue to do this to the best of my ability. All of this said, I also know there are wounds that neither time nor words can heal.

[From Nate Parker’s Facebook]

Not to nit-pick, but I don’t understand this: “I can’t help but think of all the implications this has for her family.” Is he trying to say that, as a father/brother, he’s thinking about her family at this time? Because “implications” implies something else to me. As for the rest of it… I agree that he should have shown more empathy then and he should have shown more empathy in his Deadline interview, which was mostly about how hard everything was on him. Beyond that, I don’t know what to say. I too have sympathy for his alleged victim’s family and I wonder if they’ll have more to say in the coming months.

Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.