A renewed interest into Eddie Murphy's indiscretions has occupied headlines last week. His soon-to-be ex-wife, Nicole Mitchell, filed for divorce in March of last year citing "irreconcilable differences" and they are now in the thick of divorce negotiations. Making Eddie the most nervous and scared black man in America, Nicole terrified him that his 1997 transvestite prostitute encounter might breach their prenuptial agreement.
The story of the prostitute stands somehow like this: in the early hours of May 2, 1997, Murphy was driving his wife's SUV down Santa Monica Boulevard in West Hollywood, an area known for homosexual prostitutes. Murphy pulled over, and a transvestite hooker
named Atisone Kenneth Seiuli got in. They drove off together, but didn't get far before there was a burst of siren, and Murphy was pulled over by a Los Angeles Sheriff's Department squad car.
The officers spent half an hour talking amiably with Murphy, warning him about the neighborhood and perhaps getting his autograph before shaking his hand and letting him go. Seiuli, though, was arrested on an outstanding warrant for violating probation on an earlier prostitution charge.
And as quick as Seiuli could post bail, the story was in the tabloids and on Entertainment Tonight. According to Seiuli, in their brief conversation in the vehicle, Murphy had put two hundred-dollar bills on her leg.
Seiuli remembers: "he asked me if I did this for a living, being a transsexual prostitute. I said yes. "Eddie said, 'Do you like to wear lingerie?' I said yes. He said, 'Can I see you in lingerie?' I told him, 'Whenever I have the time.' He said, 'I'll make the time.' "Then he asked me, 'What type of sex do you like?' I said I was into everything." Or at least, that was Seiuli's story.
Murphy's version was not the same, of course. "I'm married with three children. I'm not going to be out there screwing hookers off the street or anything like that. I'm just being a nice guy… I was being a good Samaritan. It's not the first hooker I've helped out. I've seen hookers on corners… and I'll pull over… and they'll go, 'Oh you're Eddie Murphy, oh my God,' and I'll empty my wallet out to help."
And now, when divorcing, Eddie's wife says: "He told me there was this person on the corner crying, so he stopped to help. But I'm thinking, 'Well, why the hell did you let them get into the car?'"
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