Thursday, 26 February 2009

Mystery female passenger sues Morgan Freeman over car crash

Demaris Meyer taking legal action

Morgan announced his split from wife of 24 years, Myrna Colley-Lee, after the crash

She was the woman in the Nissan with Morgan Freeman when it flipped over last summer in Mississippi. She was not only injured, but chased by rumor and innuendo, since at the time nobody knew who she was or why Freeman was driving with her while in the midst of a divorce from his wife.

On Wednesday, Demaris Meyer, 48, came forward to both announce a federal lawsuit against the Oscar-winning actor seeking money to pay for injuries and to clarify her relationship with him.

"I am not 'Miss Daisy' as I have been referred to in the press," Meyer tearfully told a news conference. "I was not and never have been his mistress, nor was I the cause of his marital breakup."

Meyer says she went to dinner that night last July with Freeman, Freeman's friend and attorney William Luckett, and Luckett's wife at the Bayou Bend Golf & Country Club. Afterward, she accepted Freeman's invitation to stay the night at his guesthouse.

She says they went together in her car, and Freeman, 71, drove because he knew the way.

Meyer suffered a broken left wrist and right scapula, various cuts and bruises, and memory loss – injuries she says have left her unable to return to work as an executive assistant; Freeman was also injured.

Meyer's attorey, Gloria Allred, repeatedly refused to say whether Meyer has received compensation from an insurance company, or how much money she hopes to win at trial. The lawsuit asks for an amount greater than $75,000.

A representative of Freeman's would only say he's confident the matter will be resolved.