Oscar Winner And You Light Up My Life Writer Joseph Brooks's Suicide:Sex Assault

Joseph Brooks, the 73-year-old Academy Award-winner and alleged serial rapist who killed himself yesterday, insisted on his innocence until the end, reportedly using his "rambling" three page suicide note to boast how he would have gotten off and blame his choice to take his life on failing health and financial troubles. "He was facing serious charges and had nothing to live for. I'd have done the same thing," a neighbor told the News.
According to a law enforcement source, Brooks said in his note he would have been exonerated of charges of rape (he was scheduled to appear in court Wednesday for a pretrial hearing on charges of raping or molesting at least 13 actress wannabes) and instead attributed his decision to take his life on his failing health (he had suffered a stroke in 2008 and possibly had a second a few months ago) and on an ex-fiance who he claimed jilted him of millions before revealing she was already married. His diminishing health was probably a large factor, as another neighbor put it "I saw him yesterday—he looked like walking death...like a skeleton." A worker at a nearby restaurant he frequented said he could barely even eat toast anymore.

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