Chevy Chase’s wife Jayni defends his cocaine and alcohol addiction and reveals truth behind family’s intervention after damning CNN documentary
Chevy Chase’s third wife Jayni has defended her husband’s explosive behaviour throughout his career and given a new insight into the star’s alcohol and cocaine addiction.
The actor, 82, who is perhaps best known for his inimitable role as Clark Griswold in the National Lampoon films, rose to fame on Saturday Night Live back in the 1970s, but he became a Hollywood outcast by the mid-eighties.
Now, a new documentary, I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not, attempts to fix his clouded image by providing a new insight into the struggles that prompted his explosive behaviour and clashes with his colleagues on-set.
Defending her husband in the documentary, Jayni, who married Chevy in 1982, said: ‘If Chevy says something and you’re offended, it’s a little more on you than him.’
Opening up further about her husband’s controversial behaviour, Jayni described him as a risk-taker and said: ‘You can’t get where he got without being a risk-taker, so dial it back and get a sense of humour.
‘He’s not an a**hole and neither are you.’
Chevy Chase’s third wife Jayni Chase has defended her husband’s explosive behaviour throughout his career and given a new insight into the star’s alcohol and cocaine addiction
The actor, 82, who is perhaps best known for his inimitable role as Clark Griswold in the National Lampoon films, rose to fame on Saturday Night Live back in the 1970s, but he became a Hollywood outcast by the mid-eighties
Jayni explained that his issues go back to a difficult childhood that left him traumatised.
She said: ‘The first time we stayed together, the first time I went to wake him up, he shuddered.
‘He explained, “Well, my mother would wake me up slapping me.” From the time he was a little guy: Wham!”
Chevy, who also appears in the documentary, admitted to PEOPLE: ‘Not a lot of people knew about [the abuse]. Some did, and some came close. But it was my true life.’
Jayni said that while she initially didn’t realise how much Chevy was struggling with addiction to cocaine and alcohol, she stressed that he isn’t the same man he was 30 years ago.
‘I realised he was getting a six-pack of organic red wine, and after about four days, it was gone.
‘I pointed it out to Chevy, probably five different times, and he would roll it back. And then he didn’t like me pointing it out to him because the beast of addiction starts taking over.”
She added: ‘People grow. No one is the same person they were 30 years ago.’
Defending her husband in the documentary, Jayni, who married Chevy in 1982, said: ‘If Chevy says something and you’re offended, it’s a little more on you than him’
Jayni explained that his issues go back to a difficult childhood that left him traumatised after he was abused by both his mother and father
But even during his early success, colleagues say Chase – pictured in National Lampoon’s European Vacation – was rubbing people the wrong way and a whispering campaign began against him
Chevy’s wife was not the only person to defend the star in the documentary, so too did Goldie Hawn, who co-starred with Chase in the 1978 comedy Foul Play.
She said Chevy has a ‘deep heart’ and showed her kindness when she was raising her two children alone.
The actress stressed: ‘He cared. And that’s the other part of the wild man, the man who fell over everything, the man who had faux pas. The really funny, wacky, crazy guy also has a deep heart.”
Born Cornelius Crane Chase in New York to a concert pianist mother and a magazine editor father, Chase rose to fame as part of the original cast of Saturday Night Live when the show launched in 1975.
He became the first anchor of Weekend Update and won two Emmys in 1976 for writing and performing.
But even during his early success, colleagues say Chase was rubbing people the wrong way and a whispering campaign began against him.
In the documentary, the actor reflect on his personal life and momentarily forgets the name of his first wife Susan. ‘How could I forget?’ Chase says, then with typical bluntness, he added: ‘Because I want to’
In a rare show of emotion, Chase – pictured here in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons – admits that it ‘hurt’ to be excluded from SNL’s 50th anniversary special this year
SNL cast members joke that they had so little faith that Chase’s second marriage to wife Jacqueline would last, that they even wrote down dates for when the divorce would happen: it turned out to be nine months later.
In the documentary, the actor reflect on his personal life and momentarily forgets the name of his first wife Susan.
‘How could I forget?’ Chase says, then with typical bluntness, he added: ‘Because I want to’.
Despite having been the breakout cast member in SNL’s first season in 1975, Chase was not invited to perform in the 50th anniversary special earlier this year, though he was in the audience.
In a rare show of emotion, Chase admits that it ‘hurt’ to be excluded and that somebody made a ‘big mistake’ by not letting him on stage.
One of his most troubling episodes occurred when he returned to host the show in 1985, and clashed with Terry Sweeney, the first openly gay cast member on the show.
The abuse culminated in Chase suggesting a sketch about Sweeney having AIDS and being weighed, during the height of the AIDS crisis.
Asked about the incident in the film, Chase initially laughs and says: ‘That’s the worst.’
Elsewhere in the documentary, Chase and his family try to explain away his penchant for rudeness as a ‘coping mechanism’ for the ‘abuse’ he suffered at the hands of his mother and father.
As well as detailing abuse from his mother, in the documentary Chevy described how his stepfather John Cederquist used to force him to go into the basement as punishment and beat him while he had breakfast.
I’m Chevy Chase And You’re Not is available to stream on Hulu.
