Warning: Graphic content, readers’ discretion advised. This story contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some readers discretion advised.
When a prolific young actor came to find himself in a motorcycle accident, he gradually began to change over time, coming to completely lose his mind. While he showed signs of violence, nobody could imagine how far it would really go.
often times when we think about the way that child actors turn out we picture ,hollywood child lovers or greedy parents being at fault for the way that they intevitably turn out.
this case while it does involve a child actor going down a very dark path, actualy involves a very different sort of outside influence.
the subject of today’s story is an actor with many differents roles under his belt , johnny lewis
johnny grew up in various different neighborhoods of los angeles such as in north hollywood and sherman oaks.
he was the second out of three children born to his parents michael and devona, while it has been said that johnny was raised in a jewish oriented household , his parents were actually practicing scientologists .
this might have helped them break into acting. johnny’s mom started taking him to various auditions when he was about 6 years old.a year later he got his first role taking part in an elevator safety video with an animated raccoon
after that he started getting more spots in commercials like one for pizza hut and another for coca-cola.
as he grew into his teens ,he started getting better and better roles appearing on shows like seven heaven, he even acted as one of the cadets on malcolm in the middle and as drake’s drummer on drake and josh.
johnny got himself roles in more and more shows as he got into his later teens , he was in so many things that it’s likely everyone out there has seen at least one presentation that he was apart of.
boston public, the guardian , american dreams,raise your voice underclassman you name it.
he was a major part of the fox sitcom quintuplets, and even acted on th OC.
and was in the fifth season of smallville to boot.
once johnny finished school at 18 he decided to fully dedicate himself to acting,having a lillte bit of money saved up he decided to move out of his parents house and go straight to hollywood.
there he lived with a bunch of actors in a place called wilton hilton ,a place widely known to those in the entertainment industry.
for a time johnny continued practicing scientology with his parents
his parents were no ordinary scientologists they were of the highest rank in the entire surch they called this rank
” “Operating Thetan Level VIII”
according to L.ron hubbard this level contains people who have quote:
knowing and willing cause over life , thought, matter , energy , space ,and time “
it’s bascally the stage that everyone knos from south park wher you come to learn that lord zenu dumped a bunch of aliens into volcanoes that dies and becames ghosts and latched on humans and cause all of the problems-
johnny was pretty active in the chuch himself, even starring in some scientology training films and acting as a sort of representative for the drug rehabilitation program called Narconon
however ,johnny decide to finally lave ther religion in his early 20s disillusion with the whole thing,since then most of the evidence of his connection to the church was purched from the internet by the rest of the church.
in the mid 2000 s johnny really struck gold when he came to start dating katy perry the two really hit it off after leaving their parents strict religions and getting out on their own.
the two dated from 2005 to around 2006 being seen at various events together.
johnny gt what is probably his most well- known role when he scored a role on sons of anarchy this is where he played a young biker named half-sack . called such due to losing a ball in Iraq
he was more subdued and and soft character of the show, acting as a good foil to all of the more aggressive characters on set
johnny felt that his character offered a bit of relief from the tension on the show and portrayed him as such ,winning over a lot of fans along the way .
johnny really wanted to be more than just an actor though.he always kind of saw himself as more of the artist / writer type .he started writing alot in journals and even began a couples of novels that he never quite finished.
while on this journey he heard from a photographer taking his head shot about a place called the writer’s villa.
the writers villa was a large house in the hills where creatives would live .
run by an eccentric older lady named Catherine Davis
in april of 2009 he ended up moving into a room called the red suit on the second floor.
the rent was steep, nearly $ 3,000 at a time when rent was quite a bit cheaper in general ,but he thought it would be worth it.
cathrine ,the owner of the villa loved to open up her place to differents artists and eccentrics , she had many famous hollywood stars living out there , at one point or another .
she was a Texan, who had moved out to california in the 50’s, she went to UCLA and worked all sorts of jobs in the publishing field before marrying her husband.
together they purchased the massive home together and had a daughter ,by the 80s though the two had divorced and their daughter had grown up and moved out
so catherine decided to use the massive home as an incubator of sorts for aspiring artists who showed promise.
through word of mouth the villa’s reputation only grew, whenever someone moved in they would usually give the place and the vibe a whole lot of praise leading to a lot of demand from high positions
it was fairly common to rent a room in the house and use the common areas to mingle with other young artists and writers
as much as johnny enjoyed his time there, he wouldn’t be able to stay for much longer.
he had started dating an actress, named diane Geata and gotten her pregnant on accident, while she was pregant the two actually split up but johnny was still very exited to have a kid.
in april of 2010,their daughter Culla May was born.
the two decided to live together and co – parent nontetheless moving into an apartment together in hollywood…this didn’t work out for too long though as you might espect.
soon after johny ended up moving out and found himself in a long bitter custody battle, a battle that he did not come to win.
this was when johnny’s life really began to crumble,he found himself no longer enjoying acting on sons of anarchy, feeling that the show was leaning too much toward violence and not enough on plot.
he told the creator of the show ,kurt sutter that he didn’t really want the role anymore,so the decision was made to kill him off in the second season finale.
it was now 2011 and one of johnny’s only pleasures left in life was his motorcycle a triumph bike he would ride it around pretty often simply enjoying the ride
however this bike would be the crux for his downfall.
on october 30th, one day before ,halloween , johnny was driving his triumph through 20 palms where he ended up losing control and crashing, he was rushed to the hospital where they checked him for signs of concussion or other damage to his head.
after it seemed that he was fine they decided to let him leave and go home.
johnny’s father, michael ,though felt that this was a big mistake immediately he came to notice that johnny’s behavior was getting more and more strange
he urged johnny to get an MRI done even scheduling appointments for him twice but johnny always refused to go to them , he then tried to get johnny into some sort of psychiatric treatment instead but again he refused.
all the while johnny’s behavior was getting more erratic and strange as time went on.
it wasn’t only his father who noticed but also his friends as well.
one friend who took an acting class with him noticed that he had changed pretty drastically for instance he kept speaking in what sounded like a bad british accent but didn’t seem to notice it himself.
when this friend asked him what he was doing , johnny acted like he hadn’t noticed and simply shrugged it off, for now his behavior while indeed weird was relatively harmless.
johnny went on to star in his final two roles ,acting in a movie called magic valley in 2011 and then in another called $ 186 to freedom.
he would never act again,this was because johnny began to see himself getting into trouble with the law,he went on to got arrested three different times in 2011 and 2012,
one morning johnny was hanging out in the condo that he had previously bought for his parents while his mom cooked him breakfirst he decided to go out and take a walk in his pajamas as ge walked past another one of the condos he thought he heard someone screaming for help.
he broke into the place to see what was going wrong only to see that the unit was empty ,two men soon showed up and demanded that he leave.
johnny then picked up an empty bottle and cracked one of them over the head with it,a huge fight broke out that spilled out onto the walkway,johnny bit one of the men on the arm as he tried to get away but the two managed to hold him down until the police showed up .
while johnny claimed that he was acting in self-defense ,he had in reality broken into their home and lashed out violently when told to leave.
he was charched with trespassing burgarly and assault with a deadly weapon after he was sent to the twin towers jail in L.A. he was only there for 3 days before he lashed out again,this time being confined to psychiatric ward ,his father then bailed him out after about 8 days and custody.
johnny came back to his parents house completely in shambles complete with a swollen face and two black eyes, his older sister said that he acted very much like a wounded animal,refusing to let anyone get near him and even keeping all the lights off in the house.
he actually got so frustrated at people turning the lights back on that he went out to the fuse box and turned out off the electricity entirely,something that would become sort of a habit over time
for the next few weeks he continued to act out ,going as far as cutting his wrists in an attempt to end it all ,so his father and some family friends decided to stay around and watch him at all times whenever possible,after a while this seemed to work and johnny’s mental state evened out,so his dad decided to let him live on his own once again.
this didn’t work though as johnny got back into trouble immediately,right after going to live on his own he was arrested once again for sucker punching a man at a yogurt shop, he was then again bailed out.
then a feew days later he was sent to the hospital for hypothermia after walking fully clothed into the ocean.
soon afte johnny was arrested once again ,this time for trying to break into a random woman’s apartment he said he thought was his friend’s place,he plad no contest in that case and was released on bail once again.
his probation officer said that due to his repeated problems in such a short time he was concerned not only for johnny’s well- being but also for the community at large as long as he was free.
he said it was pretty clear that johnny not only had some mental problems but believed he also had some sort of drug or alcohol problem as well .
all the while , johnny’s psychological state was getting worse rather then better when a friend pick him up for one ov his many court appearances he said that he seemed to be another person entirely saying:
he had a look i’ve only seen in disturbed veterans of war, his memory was scattered,he wacillated between basic lucid conversation and incoherence”
johnny’s family and his his lawyers did all they could to argue that he should gho to rehab for a marijuana addiction rather than going on to trial.
johnny himself actually fully understood that this was ridiculous and even laughed about it with friends privately.
his counselors felt that this was pretty dumb as well pushing for him to go for alcohol dependency
instead it was then decided that johnny would spend a couple of days in jail before probably heading off to rehab,however this didn’t happen and it actually took months for him to get out.
during that time his mental state only worsened as he simply waited in a jail cell ,day after day… johnny was sent to the Ridge View Ranch in Altadena for group sessions while still being in jail .
while in rehab it didn’t seem that johnny had a substance abuse problem at all after all ,so his doctors would go on to prescribe him drugs commonly used to treat schizophrenia and and bipolar disorder.
he refused to take the medication though ,instead hiding them under his tongue and spitting them out later,the biggest problem was that johnny never really did get an official diagnosis so nobody was really equipped to deal with his problems,his father said;
we got the motorcyckle head injury, then he’s beaten in the head 17 times,then when he’s in jail, he is pounding his own head against the concrete and attempting to leap from the second -story pier, then you have the doctor’s own diagnosis of brain trauma . and that’s just the stuff we know about”
after a few months in jail, it appeared that johnny’s state was actually improving but that was unfortunately not going to be the case for too long due to overcrowding in the jails ,he was eventually released on september 21 st 2012,everything would then come crashing down around him shortly after……
once johnny got out he checked himself into the Los Feliz hotel in Atwater village, a few days later his dad came out to help buy some new clothes before taking him out to the valley to pick up his bike so he could get mobile again.
johnny wanting to return to a place that gave him some semblance of peace asked his dad if he could call the writer’s villa and see if there were any rooms available.
his father thought that this might be a good move saying;
this is a place he was familiar with and they will give him a lot of love”
catherine davis was happy to have him back , even preparing his old room for his return,johnny moved back in and settled farily quickly, the next day his father called to check in only for johnny to say ;
I’m busy , what do you want?
and telling him that he would talk later before hanging up.
september 26th, 2012
the night before johnny had actually returned to old habits and gone out tothe fuse box,disabling all of the electricity in the entire villa.
due to this catherine scolded him for a bit ,waning him not to do that again…..
it’s likely that this incident was still fresh on johnny’s mind and in a complete fury he decided to confront her about it, johnny picked up a hammer from the house and made his way up to catherine’s room where she was caught off guard no idea that anything was going on.
he began to punch her over and over again,it’s then believed that he then used the hammer lnocking her down to the ground before strangling her with his bare hands.
it’s believed that her stomped on her head afterward and then he picked up a mechanical pencil and stabbed her in the face multiple times, later reports said of the attack ;
he fractured her entire skull and obliterated the left side of her face, leaving her brain exposed,brain and tissue matter seen on the floor around her,her face is covered in blood ,her nose is split down the middle and her upper jaw is split open .”
then while still in a frenzy ,johnny picked up catherine beloved cat and killed it in much the same manner ,before throwing it into the shower and finally leaving her room.
one of johnny’s neigbhors who he had previously introduced himself to was happy ti see him, after all he seemed like a nice enough young man.but he noticed that he saw johnny pacing up and down the sidewalk on the corner of the villa wearing nothing but jeans and choes while sweating profusely.
a painter on the other side of the fence painting the wall of this neighbor’s house,seeing this , johnny randomly hopped the fence and abruptly assaulted him going as far as hitting him with a 2×4, lying nearby, johnny’s neigbor heard his wife frantically calling for him coming out to see johnny beating the life out of the painter.
he yelled for johnny to stop to which johnny stood up and decked him in the face as well .the 70 year old man stood back up and clocked johnny back across the temple,he was suprised to see that the crazy young man didn’t even flinch in the least, he said that he seemed to have superhuman strenght all while sporting a blank expression.
during that time both the neighbors wife and the painter were able to retreat back into the house. the neigbor soon followed trying to slam the door behind him, but then johnny reached his arm in through the crack of the door after him like some sort of horror movie.
all three of them slammed on the door together until johnny’s arm hurt so badly that he finally pulled it out and left.
he jumped the fence once again,this time returning to the villa, the three then locked up their whole house and called the police, other neighbors had called the police as well after hearing catherine screaming previously.
johnny could hear the police coming, he made his way up to the roof of the villa where he felt he could jump away and make his escape ,as you night expect this didn’t work,either he tried to jump over the or he simply fell .
either way he came slamming down 15 ft to the pavement on the ground landing on his head and crushing the left side of his scull.
he died instantly
the police arrived very shortly after , first seeing johnny lying lifeless in the driveway,the scene they would come across inside was even more gruesome
while the first floor was clean,they noticed a hammer clearly covered in blood,making their way upstairs they came upon the grizzly scene of catherine and her cat.
at first glance,they thought that johnny was merely another victim ,but they soon came torealize that he had either jumped or fallen off the roof shortly before they arrived
hearing from the neighbors and seeing the scene they felt that there was no other explanation other than that johnny had probably been using some fairly hard drugs.
the tabloids picked up on this and repored it as well,little did they know this was actually far from the case.
after an autopsy was performed it was shown that johnny had absolutely no drugs or alcohol in in his system at all when any of this happened.
he didn’t even show positive for any prescription medication or weed…just nothing at all.
there was also no sign thathe jumped of ther roof intentionally with the pattern of injury being much more consistent with a fall.
it was ru,ed that his death was accidental, after news of the murder broke, everyone who knew johnny was left t stunned,they knew he had gotten into fights before but they hoped it wouldn’t reach this level.
some of them though weren’t at all suprised, the creator of sons of anarchy kurt sutter was one of the first to speak out about the whole thing ,he tweeted;
it was a tragic end for an extremely talented guy, who unfortunately had lost his way , i wish i could say that i was shocked by the events last night , but i was not,i’am deeply sorry that an innocent life had to be thrown into his destructive path,yeas , it ‘s a day of mourning, but it’s also a day of awareness and gratitude ,sadly , some of us carry the message by dying .”
katie perry hearing about her ex- boyfriend doing something like this with no bad blood between them was left schocked and devastated ,not giving much of a response beyond that .
in the years since johnny’s death his parents parents seemed to return to life as normal,michael continues to be a very bif player in the church of scientology shown smiling happy with various awards at different events.
there was someone who wasn’t quite so happy with him though… johnny’s ex.the mother of his child diane, now named diane marshall green after a different marriage had beef with him .
rather than their child Culla May being the heir to johnny’s estate it seemed that everything had actually gone to his father ,even after paternity was proven without a shadow of a doubt michael stillrefused to see the child as an heir.
while johnny only had about$ 41, 000 of his acting money left by the time he died diane wanted wanted it.
johnny throughout all of his trouble had failed to pay about $ 37,000 in child support.
even so ,michael refused to hand it over , so diane decided to sue him , it’s unclear if this lawsuit has ever been resolved but it’s likely that johnny’s parents have some of those top dollar rabid scientology lawyers
now johnny is mainly remembered as another tragic tale of a child actor losing their mind in adulthood, allthough this time it wasn’t so much related to the industry as it was to a head injury and undiagnosed mental issues .
now, it’s hard to look back on any of this projects without remberering his end and in turn the murder of catherine davis and her pet……