Actor-screenwriter Owen Wilson, 38, was taken from his Santa Monica home in the 900 block of 23rd Street to Saint John’s Health Center at noontime on Sunday, August 26, by Santa Monica Fire Department paramedics with the assistance of SMPD officers.
Reports by the National Enquirer and Star magazine that he had tried to commit suicide by cutting his wrists and taking pills were neither confirmed nor denied by public safety officials or Wilson’s public relations representative.
Through his agent, Wilson released the statement: “I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time.”
The Santa Monica Police Department “Calls for Service” report – a dispatch log posted on the department’s website -– lists a 12:08 p.m. call for the 900 block of 23rd Street with the entry “Attempt Suicide” under the column heading “Incident Type.” It should be noted that entries in this column reflect the initial characterization of the call, and that the true nature of the incident often turns out to be something different.
The police on August 26 issued an otherwise-unusual press release which reads in its entirety: “On Sunday, August 26, 2007 at 12:10 p.m., officers from the Santa Monica Police Department responded to assist the Santa Monica Fire Department paramedics with a medical aid call in the 900 block of 23rd Street. A person was transported to a local hospital where they are being treated. Due to HIPAA medical privacy laws, no further information is being released.” (HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, is a federal law that addresses the privacy of medical information among other subjects.)
After treatment at Saint John’s, Wilson was transferred to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, where family members have visited him, according to various media accounts.
Wilson is best known as a comic actor (including Starsky & Hutch (2004), Wedding Crashers (2005) and Night at the Museum (2006)), but his one Academy Award nomination was for his writing: best screenplay written directly for the screen for The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), co-written with Wes Anderson.
