August 31, 2025 The Newspaper Serving LGBT Los Angeles

Bret Easton Ellis Shares Heartfelt Statement About Partner’s Arrest and Mental Health Crisis

Statement Reveals Schultz Will Continue to Receive Treatment 

As we reported yesterday, Todd Michael Schultz, the partner of author and director Bret Easton Ellis, was arrested for trespassing in a disturbing incident last week in West Hollywood. Ellis has posted a statement to his website that talks about the situation, what has happened since, and what will happen in the future. 

It details the challenges of dealing with a partner who is able to seem functional and pleasant when deeper mental and addiction issues are present. 

The statement says, “What happened to my partner last week here in West Hollywood affected a lot of people, and I want to provide some clarification and perspective.

For a long time, I was simply blind, not grasping the severity of Todd’s situation and how ill he actually was. Mental health issues and drug addiction have seemingly affected every family I’ve known, including my own. I lost my youngest sister to a combination of both last August (she died at 53), and my father’s struggles with alcoholism led to his death at 50 in 1992. My partner of fourteen years has been in its increasing grip for the last decade, culminating in a full-blown drug-induced psychotic breakdown last week. He was arrested and is now in lockdown in a psych ward still, days later, unaware of where he is or why he’s there.

There is a thin line between loving someone and enabling them–you don’t realize it fully until it smacks you in the face. The tough love approach you dread as the partner of an out-of-control addict happened to us first in 2021 when I kicked Todd out of the condo we shared and demanded he place himself in a recovery facility for three and a half months, which he did–grudgingly, forced by me because he had no other financial options left. But recovering addicts have told me that THEY had to make the decision to get help, and being forced by others never worked. Maybe a little, but not fully.

Todd had always been someone who I thought was eccentric and erratic but functioning. Due to our age difference, we lived semi-separate lives even though we lived together–he had his life, and I had mine, and they would intersect for long conversations about books, watching movies, and having meals. I often wasn’t aware that there was another Todd. People would tell me about his social media rants, worried, and as the enabler, I would say, “Oh, that’s just Todd” or “That’s just performance art,”  and shrug it off, not knowing how unhinged he could get.

The feelings you have for this person who is so obviously in pain blind you to getting them the help they need, and if you’re a couple, YOU become the problem as well by not facing the reality of the situation and getting them that help. With Todd, sometimes it was apparent there was a mania present and then weeks when there wasn’t. Days where he would quietly sit at his desk or read Thomas Mann and drink tea and watch movies with me. Where he seemed not only sane and utterly normal but fun and engaging. That was the Todd I sometimes lived with. Until I realized, too late, I wasn’t anymore.

After he got out of rehab the first half of 2022 was OK–he had a job; he was taking his meds, he was seeing a therapist, and he was calm. But then “something” started creeping back in, and in 2023, it built and built until, like the summer of 2021, was impossible to enable anymore, leading to his meltdown and arrest. The mania–caused by both mental health issues and drugs–finally blew up in OUR faces. Yes, I had heard from people earlier, years earlier, that Todd was becoming a problem. But I was also a problem by deflecting and not taking action, lost in my own world.

He has a support team, and once he is released from the psych ward, he will automatically be placed into a long-term dual psychiatric rehab facility. It is a complicated dance when you’re living with an addict with mental health issues, and you love and care about: they CAN convince you that everything is fine, and YOU are blinded because you want to believe it too and avoid the pain and stress and heartbreak that comes with your ultimate understanding of the situation–that awful clarity you don’t want to face.

There are those of you who reached out and told me how much they loved and cared about Todd and saw the Todd that is loving and funny and intelligent and has so much potential and talent, and that’s the Todd I mostly knew–and not the “crazy” and “vindictive” and “insane” Todd lashing out at everyone on his videos and live streams – which I never and still haven’t watched. I don’t think it’s too late for him, and I hope to know that Todd I first met in 2010 again.”

in NEWS
Related Posts

Film Producer With Credits on The Apprentice and The Fallout Charged in $12M Scheme

August 30, 2025

August 30, 2025

Accused Billed for Fake COVID Tests, Misappropriated Film Funds, and Laundered Money Federal agents in South Carolina have arrested a...

Bus Lane Crackdown Coming to West Hollywood Under Metro LA Program

August 30, 2025

August 30, 2025

After a 60-day warning period, Tickets Will Be Issued for $293 Each Drivers who block bus lanes in West Hollywood...

Los Angeles City Council Bans ‘Disaster Tours’ in Pacific Palisades Wildfire Zone

August 30, 2025

August 30, 2025

Resolution Restricts Heavy Buses While Crews Repair Roads, Slopes, Utilities Tour buses will no longer be allowed to operate in...

Santa Monica Flea-Borne Typhus Cluster Under Investigation as L.A. Cases Rise

August 29, 2025

August 29, 2025

County Confirms 106 Cases So Far in 2025 After a Record 187 Last Year Health officials are warning Los Angeles...

CHP Launches Annual Statewide Labor Day Crackdown on Impaired Driving

August 29, 2025

August 29, 2025

All Available Officers Will Patrol California Roads August 29–September 1 The California Highway Patrol will deploy every available officer this...

Pedestrian Struck and Killed by Work Truck in Brentwood

August 29, 2025

August 29, 2025

Authorities Reported the Crash Near Mulholland Drive On Friday morning in Brentwood, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a...

Toxic Avenger Reboot Aims to Smash Box Office and Medical Debt on Labor Day Weekend

August 29, 2025

August 29, 2025

Film’s Release Comes With a Promise to Erase Millions in Medical Bills The upcoming release of The Toxic Avenger will...

Crumbl Co-Founder Sawyer Hemsley Comes Out as Gay After Intense Online Speculation

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Cookie Brand’s Co-Founder Broke His Silence Monday After Weeks of Growing Online Chatter Sawyer Hemsley, co-founder and chief branding officer...

Beverly Hills Schools Halt Israeli Flag Display Despite School Board Vote

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Superintendent Cites Safety Concerns After Narrow 3–2 Decision Despite a 3–2 Board of Education vote to display the Israeli flag...

Los Angeles County Public Health Probe Sparks Nationwide Egg Recall Over Salmonella

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

More Than 95 Cases Tied to Country Eggs in 14 States; Do Not Eat Affected Cartons Los Angeles Public health...

(Video) The Opening of Mr. Charlie’s with Santa Monica Mayor Lana Negrete

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Vegan burger restaurant with brightly colored decor now open on 26th street across fromthe Brentwood Country Mart.

California Pizza Kitchen Debuts Heart-Shaped Pizza Celebrating Swift–Kelce

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

13 Days of Engagement Pizzas, and Return of Hot Honey Flavors California Pizza Kitchen is rolling out a series of...

Culver Hotel Celebrates 101 Years With 101 Anniversary Menu and Live Music

August 28, 2025

August 28, 2025

Guests Can Enjoy a Four-Course Meal, Nightly Performances, Trivia Contest The historic Culver Hotel is celebrating its 101st anniversary this September, continuing...

Westside Chefs Shine at the Manhattan Beach Food & Wine Festival in September

August 27, 2025

August 27, 2025

South Bay’s Culinary Festival Returns With Two Nights of Food, Wine, and Music Santa Monica, Westchester, Los Angeles, and West...

Jewish Clergy Rally in Los Angeles Urging Ceasefire, Hostage Release, and Food Aid for Gaza

August 27, 2025

August 27, 2025

Two Dozen Rabbis Gathered at Israeli Consulate, Hostage’s Family Appears at Second Rally Jewish clergy from across Los Angeles County...