- Mar 2, 2000
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Whether you enjoy wrestling or not, this is a great read detailing a whole lot one of the most prosperous but tragical families outside the ring.
From the tough childhoods of the Harts to the loss of Owen, it's all here..
http://www.saturdaynight.ca/articles/topstory2.asp
<< stu hart still does his grocery shopping on Saturdays, and spends every Sunday helping to cook the family meal, but these days, only a diminished brood shows up. I asked him if he worried about his family. "Very much," he told me. "I don't know how to approach things. I'm embarrassed. It's an ugly situation."
Ellie doesn't visit much any more. Her brother Bret has declared her persona non grata; the last time she appeared for a Sunday dinner, they got into a terrible spat. "He told me that I should be ashamed of myself, that I sold myself to the devil. I just told him to go to hell." Bret spat on her, Ellie claims, before pushing her daughter and leaving a dent in their car with his boot.
Last summer, fire destroyed a guesthouse on the Hart estate; investigators believed it may have been arson, but have not named any suspects. That was followed by another disturbing episode at the house, when one of Ellie's sisters slapped her own son across the face. The boy responded by putting her in a headlock. His older cousin jumped into the fray, and began pulling on her hair. He then attacked her car, smashing its windows with a shovel and slashing its tires.
Last October, after suffering a serious concussion during a WCW match, Bret retired from professional wrestling. There was no fanfare, no tribute, nothing. He smashed one of his father's favourite wooden chairs just before his parents put their names on Martha's settlement. In what appears to be an unrelated matter, Calgary police arrested Davey Boy Smith the same month. He was charged with leaving threats on Ellie's answering machine, and threatening to kill his estranged wife, Diana. In December, the Crown dropped all four criminal charges against him; a smiling Davey Boy left the courthouse on the arm of Andrea Hart. (Andrea is Bruce Hart's wife.) By year's end, Bruce accused Davey Boy of making more dire threats, this time directed at Bruce himself.
Ellie's marriage to Jim (the Anvil) Neidhart is on life-support, following a series of ugly domestic incidents. Jim, she claims, fled their home with most of the family furniture in the back of his truck. "Yes, I have called the police on my husband," she told lawyers in a deposition last year. "My husband has had a problem with drugs and alcohol since long before I ever knew him," she attested. She won't leave him, though. She'll never ask for a divorce. She loves her husband. "It's crazy," she says. "The whole family is crazy."
She understands why Martha will never return to the fold. "We've always been an embarrassment to her," Ellie says. She pauses for a moment, and coughs. "We've been through way more than we should have, though." >>
From the tough childhoods of the Harts to the loss of Owen, it's all here..
http://www.saturdaynight.ca/articles/topstory2.asp
<< stu hart still does his grocery shopping on Saturdays, and spends every Sunday helping to cook the family meal, but these days, only a diminished brood shows up. I asked him if he worried about his family. "Very much," he told me. "I don't know how to approach things. I'm embarrassed. It's an ugly situation."
Ellie doesn't visit much any more. Her brother Bret has declared her persona non grata; the last time she appeared for a Sunday dinner, they got into a terrible spat. "He told me that I should be ashamed of myself, that I sold myself to the devil. I just told him to go to hell." Bret spat on her, Ellie claims, before pushing her daughter and leaving a dent in their car with his boot.
Last summer, fire destroyed a guesthouse on the Hart estate; investigators believed it may have been arson, but have not named any suspects. That was followed by another disturbing episode at the house, when one of Ellie's sisters slapped her own son across the face. The boy responded by putting her in a headlock. His older cousin jumped into the fray, and began pulling on her hair. He then attacked her car, smashing its windows with a shovel and slashing its tires.
Last October, after suffering a serious concussion during a WCW match, Bret retired from professional wrestling. There was no fanfare, no tribute, nothing. He smashed one of his father's favourite wooden chairs just before his parents put their names on Martha's settlement. In what appears to be an unrelated matter, Calgary police arrested Davey Boy Smith the same month. He was charged with leaving threats on Ellie's answering machine, and threatening to kill his estranged wife, Diana. In December, the Crown dropped all four criminal charges against him; a smiling Davey Boy left the courthouse on the arm of Andrea Hart. (Andrea is Bruce Hart's wife.) By year's end, Bruce accused Davey Boy of making more dire threats, this time directed at Bruce himself.
Ellie's marriage to Jim (the Anvil) Neidhart is on life-support, following a series of ugly domestic incidents. Jim, she claims, fled their home with most of the family furniture in the back of his truck. "Yes, I have called the police on my husband," she told lawyers in a deposition last year. "My husband has had a problem with drugs and alcohol since long before I ever knew him," she attested. She won't leave him, though. She'll never ask for a divorce. She loves her husband. "It's crazy," she says. "The whole family is crazy."
She understands why Martha will never return to the fold. "We've always been an embarrassment to her," Ellie says. She pauses for a moment, and coughs. "We've been through way more than we should have, though." >>