Brendan Fraser and his partner, Jeanne Moore, were – how you say – che bella when they stepped out into the Italian night air on Tuesday (Jul. 11). Brendan, 54, and Jeanne, 43, were on the small island of Ischia for the Ischia Global Fest 2023. The two decided they would take in some of the local nightlife. Brendan dressed for the mid-summer weather, donning a black button-up shirt, white slacks, and a pair of chic shoes. The Oscar-winner’s date was also glam, as Jeanne wore a flowing white dress with a chunky black belt. She completed the look with a matching handbag.
Brendan smiled for the paparazzi as he and Jeanne made their way towards their date night. The appearance comes roughly four months after he took home the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in Daron Aronofsky‘s The Whale. The victory marked a return for the Doom Patrol actor whose career faded at the start of the century.
“I started in this business 30 years ago,” Brendan said when accepting the awards in the March 2023 ceremony. “And things, they didn’t come easily to me, but there was a facility that I didn’t appreciate at the time until it stopped. And I just want to say thank you for this acknowledgment because it couldn’t be done without my cast. It’s been like I’ve been on a diving expedition on the bottom of the ocean. And the air on the line to the surface is on a launch being watched over by some people in my life, like my sons, Holden, Leland, and Griffin. I love you, Griffy. My manager, JoAnne Colonna; Jennifer Plant; and my best first mate, Jeanne. Thank you again, each one and all. I’m so grateful to you. Goodnight.”
In 2018, Brendan spoke with GQ, giving a bombshell interview in which he accused Philip Berk, then-president of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, of sexually assaulting him at a Golden Globes luncheon in 2003. This alleged incident — along with the death of his mother, his 2007 divorce from Afton Smith, and his ongoing health issues – led Brendan to retreat from the public eye.
He continued to act, but in projects that paled in comparison to the high-profile movies he used to make in the late 1990s. “[People say] ‘Good that you’re back. I’m glad to see you back.’ And I say thank you. And some of them even go, ‘We’ve missed you. Where have you been?’ You know, like almost letting me know that I disappointed them,” Brendan said in a 2022 follow-up interview with GQ, “And the first thing out of my mouth is, ‘I was never that far away.'”