Ezra Miller’s long, troubling road over the past two years has led us here: a bombshell Vanity Fair exposé that takes a deep dive into the chaos surrounding the actor.
The “Fantastic Beasts” star, who is nonbinary and uses they and them pronouns, recently announced that they are seeking treatment for “complex mental health issues” following a string of arrests and accusations of abuse, assault and the grooming of a teenager among other crimes.
Miller’s downward spiral reportedly began on the heels of their parents’ divorce in 2019, according to Vanity Fair, which spoke to a dozen people in Miller’s orbit for the story published on Sunday.
“Ezra didn’t start freaking out and losing control of themselves in public until after this happened,” said an unnamed friend of Miller, whose representatives denied the claim. “The Iceland incident happened, and then it just kept going and going and going and going.”
In 2020, a disturbing video of Miller appearing to choke a woman outside an Iceland bar surfaced on the internet, sparking the beginning of their mounting personal and legal troubles.
At the time, Miller was reportedly being counseled by a spiritual adviser named Jasper Young Bear, who believed Miller was the “next Messiah and that the Freemasons were sending demons” to kill the actor. Sources said the actor made a habit of referring to themselves “alternately as Jesus and the devil.”
Miller’s role in the upcoming DC film “The Flash,” which is still set to be released next year despite the controversies swirling around its star, apparently plays a role in their myth-making with a source asserting that the the actor claims the superhero is “the one who brings the multiverses together just like Jesus.”
Miller reportedly embraced these beliefs and spread them among a group of young followers.
“[They’d] talk about the metaverse and the medicine and how they’re the Messiah and what [their] work is here,” a source told the outlet. “They say their spiritual practice is to be among the people — which means party. So, when in Iceland, he was out nonstop. [Their] favorite were raves, where he’d go on benders for two or three days at a time.”
Tokata Iron Eyes, an 18-year-old Indigenous activist, reportedly plays a central role in Miller’s teachings with their union fated to “bring about the apocalypse,” according to a source. The teenager’s parents, however, have accused Miller of physical and verbal abuse, as well as grooming the minor ― allegations Iron Eyes has firmly denied — resulting in a protective order against the actor.
Despite Miller not having any Native American ancestry, they claim to be “some kind of messiah, and they’re going to lead an Indigenous revolution,” Iron Eyes’ mother, Jumping Eagle, told Vanity Fair.
Elsewhere in the Vanity Fair piece, Miller is accused of housing followers and friends at their Vermont farm under dangerous and strange circumstances. The property reportedly features an altar adorned with “bullets, weed, sage, and Flash figurines.”
“A lot of times he makes the women put their cell phones on the altar when they come in, and other offerings,” a friend of the actor told the outlet, describing the dynamic as a “patriarchal dictatorship.”
Miller is accused of controlling a “court harem” of mostly young women at the farm, where the star allegedly “plays them against each other, screams at them, belittles them in front of the others.”
While most of the actor’s legal issues have been resolved ― Vanity Fair reports that many of Miller’s alleged victims have received monetary settlements and signed NDAs ― Miller is due to appear in court next month for an arraignment on a felony burglary charge. The actor was arrested for allegedly stealing alcohol from a Vermont residence in May, which Miller’s representatives claim was a misunderstanding over borrowing rice wine from a supposed friend for a recipe.
In a statement released in August, Miller described this recent period of their life as a time of “intense crisis.”
“I want to apologize to everyone that I have alarmed and upset with my past behavior,” the statement read. “I am committed to doing the necessary work to get back to a healthy, safe and productive stage in my life.”