'I was Philip Seymour Hoffman's gay lover and saw him freebasing cocaine the night before he died,' says writer who found his body

[flowers]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2552207/I-Philip-Seymour-Hoffmans-gay-lover-I-saw-freebasing-cocaine-night-died-says-Manhattan-writer-star-body.html

David Bar Katz, 44, has made the sensational claim in an interview with The National Enquirer that he was involved in a gay relationship with Philip Seymour Hoffman
The screenwriter and father-of-four claims that he was in love with the Oscar winner
Claimed to have seen the star freebasing cocaine the night before he died on Sunday
Another family source claimed that Hoffman, 46, was confused over whether he wanted his family life or heroin
Hoffman split from partner Mimi O'Donnell before Christmas and left their $4.4 million family home in Manhattan
The couple had three children and were together for 14 years
Friends reportedly claim the confusion over his sexuality and his drug use destroyed his relationship with Mimi

[alicewonders]

What a terrible thing for his family, especially his children, to have to endure right now!  It really pisses me off to see people bring innocent children into the world and THEN decide that maybe the life they are leading is "a lie".  It really screws the kids up!

I guess it gets to me so much because that happened to a friend of mine.  Her and her husband waited nine years to have children, and then when they had two toddlers - he decides he doesn't want to be married anymore.  The kids are grown now and totally screwed up, raised by a single mother and an absent father.  I have a few gay friends that tell me it is very common for "married" men to frequent the gay bars where they hang out.  Make up your mind before you bring children into the world people!!!

[mountaineer]

The NY Post provides this blow-by-blow ... er, moment by moment ... account of Hoffman's last days.

Philip Seymour Hoffman’s tragic last days
By Lorena Mongelli, Kevin Sheehan and Kate Sheehy
February 5, 2014 | 8:41am

The timeline of events leading to Philip Seymour Hoffman’s death:

Jan. 24: Hoffman attends an 8:30 p.m. meeting for drug addicts and alcoholics at the Perry Street Workshop in Greenwich Village. He tells people there that he’s doing “OK.”

Last week: He takes his kids to Pizzetteria Brunetti on Hudson Street, where “he was having a ball . . . He was just goofing off with them, and they were cracking up,’’ said owner Jason Brunetti. But Alin Laurent, owner of La Ripaille down the block, said she spotted the star on the street another time and, “He looked down; he wasn’t smiling.’’

10: 30 p.m. Thursday: Hoffman has dinner with a female pal at La Bonbonniere diner on Eighth Avenue in the West Village. “I’d never seen him so happy. He had a cheeseburger deluxe, and he was showing the lady all the pictures I have of him on my wall. He was even singing, ‘La la la,’ when he paid,’’ said manager Marina Corte.

Friday night: Hoffman heads to the Highlands pub on West 10th Street with three friends, two men and a woman. “He looked normal. He just looked overweight,’’ a customer said. The actor’s personal assistant, Isabella Wing-Davey, stops by her boss’ Bethune Street apartment. She later told cops she didn’t notice anything amiss, CNN said.

Saturday morning: Hoffman goes to the Chocolate Bar on Eighth Avenue for his regular four-shot espresso over ice with a splash of milk, appearing fine. A short while later, he meets a few people for brunch at The Standard hotel.

1:30 p.m.: Wing-Davey chats with him on the phone. There was nothing out of the ordinary, she told cops.

2 p.m.: Hoffman sees estranged longtime girlfriend Mimi O’Donnell on the street near their separate homes. She later told cops he appeared OK.

3 p.m.: The actor is spotted by a neighbor catching a smoke in front of D’Agostino’s. “I stopped and said, ‘How’s it going, boss?’ He said, “I’m good,’ ” said Steve Yanovski.

5 p.m.: Paul Pabst, executive producer of the syndicated, sports-themed “Dan Patrick Show’’ and his family see Hoffman walking down Greenwich Street toward Bethune bundled up in a puffy coat, and after they say hello, he gives a high-five to Pabst’s sister. But Pabst and his family later discussed how “out of it’’ he seemed.

Later that evening: Hoffman has what appears to be a business dinner with two people at Automatic Slims on Washington Street.

Just after 8 p.m.: The actor withdraws $1,200 from the ATM machine at D’Agostino’s on Greenwich Street with two drug couriers standing next to him. Cops said he gave the dealers $1,000.

10 p.m.: He talks with O’Donnell by phone. She later told cops he sounded high.

Sunday, 9 a.m.: Hoffman fails to show up for scheduled visit with his kids at O’Donnell’s pad.

11 a.m.: O’Donnell calls Wing-Davey and asks her to check on him.

11:15 a.m.: Wing-Davey and a friend, screenwriter David Bar Katz, find Hoffman dead in the bathroom.

11:36 a.m.: 911 is called.

11:45 a.m.: The actor is pronounced dead.

I just wonder when we'll all get over this. 

[Rapunzel]

What a terrible thing for his family, especially his children, to have to endure right now!  It really pisses me off to see people bring innocent children into the world and THEN decide that maybe the life they are leading is "a lie".  It really screws the kids up!

I guess it gets to me so much because that happened to a friend of mine.  Her and her husband waited nine years to have children, and then when they had two toddlers - he decides he doesn't want to be married anymore.  The kids are grown now and totally screwed up, raised by a single mother and an absent father.  I have a few gay friends that tell me it is very common for "married" men to frequent the gay bars where they hang out.  Make up your mind before you bring children into the world people!!!

 

[Rapunzel]

They found him at 11:15 and didn't call the police until 11:36?  What took so long?

I saw a picture of him on Hannity last night - taken by a passenger on a flight from Atlanta to New York - he was stoned and slumped over in his seat the entire flight.

[Rapunzel]

This is who I feel sorry for........

[flowers]

They found him at 11:15 and didn't call the police until 11:36?  What took so long?

I was wondering the same thing

[EC]

I was wondering the same thing

20 minutes. Not much really. You can probably expect they found him more at 11:20 - people tend to think in quarter hours when giving a statement. They are not trained cops or medics, who automatically note the time.
Throw in a few minutes to see if he wasn't just sleeping it off, a quick and panicky debate about whether to clean up the place, a bit of a freak out since he was their friend, and the delay becomes more understandable.

[flowers]

20 minutes. Not much really. You can probably expect they found him more at 11:20 - people tend to think in quarter hours when giving a statement. They are not trained cops or medics, who automatically note the time.
Throw in a few minutes to see if he wasn't just sleeping it off, a quick and panicky debate about whether to clean up the place, a bit of a freak out since he was their friend, and the delay becomes more understandable.

No not trained cops or medics....BUT he is laying on the ground with a needle in his arm....I am calling 911 about then. That is just me though

[Rapunzel]

No not trained cops or medics....BUT he is laying on the ground with a needle in his arm....I am calling 911 about then. That is just me though

Same here.... it's pretty easy to tell if a person isn't breathing and is dead - especially if he died the night before rigor would have started to set in.

[EC]

You both are considerably more practical than your typical New York screenwriter.

[Atomic Cow]

Well, the autopsy will show whether or not he had cocaine in his system.  If he didn't, this guy is just out for some attention or the Enquirer is just publishing its usual sh*t.

[Rapunzel]

Well, the autopsy will show whether or not he had cocaine in his system.  If he didn't, this guy is just out for some attention or the Enquirer is just publishing its usual sh*t.

According to the coroner the autopsy was inconclusive and more testing will be conducted.

[Atomic Cow]

According to the coroner the autopsy was inconclusive and more testing will be conducted.

Toxicology usually takes a few weeks, IIRC.

[EC]

Well, the autopsy will show whether or not he had cocaine in his system.  If he didn't, this guy is just out for some attention or the Enquirer is just publishing its usual sh*t.

Daily Mail via the Enquirer? Not exactly a reliable reporting chain.

The screenwriter and father-of-four claims that he was in love with the Oscar winner

A friend dies, saying "I loved that guy" is not exactly uncommon.

[mountaineer]

More craziness.

Philip Seymour Hoffman's friend vows to sue National Enquirer for $50 million over report they were gay lovers: ‘I never said that, no’
Screenwriter David Bar Katz on Wednesday denied accounts that he and the Oscar-winning actor were romantically involved. ‘The Enquirer story is 100% false, including the claim that I gave the Enquirer an interview,’ Katz said in the statement.
By Caitlin Nolan  , Nancy Dillon   AND Corky Siemaszko  / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Published: Wednesday, February 5, 2014, 12:42 PM

The screenwriter who found  Philip Seymour Hoffman dead flatly denied a supermarket tabloid's claim that he and doomed actor were lovers - and he's suing for $50 million.

"I never said that, no," David Bar Katz said Wednesday after leaving the West Village apartment of Hoffman's longtime girlfriend, Mimi O'Donnell.

Katz's denial was followed by a lawsuit that called the story "a complete fabrication.”

“There was no interview,” Katz’s lawyer claimed in the suit. “Bar Katz and Hoffman were never lovers. Bar Katz did not see Hoffman freebasing cocaine the night before he died or at any other time. Bar Katz never saw Hoffman use heroin or cocaine.”

Katz’s lawyer, Judd Burstein, said “this article is just disgusting.”

“Here you have Phil's family and his friends grieving, and the Enquirer comes along seeking to make a buck through putrid lies,” Burstein said. “Worse still, it appears that the Enquirer sent out a press release hyping the story so that it could sell more copies of the magazine. I do not know how these people can sleep at night.”

The lawsuit is seeking $5 million in damages and another $45 million in punitive damages.

An English-accented man who identified himself as the "editor in chief" at the National Enquirer said "this is news to me" when reached by a Daily News reporter.

"As far as I know, the interview was done on Sunday by a staff reporter," he said.

When asked to confirm he was in fact Tony Frost, the British head honcho at the National Enquirer, the man said "I'll get right back to you."

Philip Seymour Hoffmann was found dead Sunday in an apartment he was renting. He and Katz were 'like brothers,' a friend says.

Then he hung up.

The National Enquirer story, written by John Blosser, Brette Trost and Robert Hartlein, claimed Hoffman fell off the wagon and began shooting up heroin because he was confused over his sexual identity.

Hoffman won an Oscar playing gay writer Truman Capote in the 2005 movie "Capote."

"We were homosexual lovers," Katz said, according to the tab. "We had a relationship."

David Bar Katz plans to take legal action over allegations that he and the Oscar winner were anything more than friends.
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David Bar Katz plans to take legal action over allegations that he and the Oscar winner were anything more than friends.

Katz then supposedly stated that he saw Hoffman shoot-up several times and freebase cocaine the night before he died.

"We were planning to go to the Super Bowl together and have a really nice day," he said, according to the tab. "This is so terrible."

It was Katz who discovered Hoffman dead of an apparent drug overdose on Sunday.

He had gone to Hoffman's rented West Village apartment to check up on his friend when the actor didn't show up at a nearby playground to see his three kids.

Katz, who has four kids of his own, was "like brothers" with Hoffman, a friend of his told The Daily News.

[Oceander]

"I never said that, no," David Bar Katz said Wednesday after leaving the West Village apartment of Hoffman's longtime girlfriend, Mimi O'Donnell.

Aha!  Perhaps that's where the real motive lies?