Samantha Granville
BBC News, Los Angeles
An ex-girlfriend of Hollywood star Nicolas Cage is suing him and their son for “life-threatening injuries” she says she sustained in an alleged fight last year.
Christina Fulton accuses her 34-year-old son, Weston Cage, whom she described as a “300-pound professional fighter”, of attacking her without provocation.
According to the lawsuit, Fulton, 57, is suing her son for assault and battery and Cage, 61, for negligence, claiming he failed to prevent their son’s alleged behaviour.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the “catastrophic physical, emotional, and economic harm she has endured due to an unprovoked attack by their son, Weston”. Nicolas Cage’s lawyers called the lawsuit “frivolous”.
Weston Cage was arrested in June last year and charged with two felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon following accusations that he attacked his mother and another individual.
He pleaded not guilty to both charges.
Ms Fulton claims she visited her son on 28 April 2024 after receiving “urgent messages” from his friends, according to the civil complaint submitted to the Los Angeles County Superior Court.
Upon arriving, she alleges he attacked her in a “manic rage”, assaulting her in the car park, lift and lobby of his residence. The lawsuit says she was left with a concussion, multiple contusions, neck and throat injuries, dental trauma, tinnitus, abdominal trauma and PTSD.
Ms Fulton alleges that Nicolas Cage was aware of their son’s “long history of mental and psychological disorder” and previous alleged acts of “violent assault and battery”, but continued to enable such behaviour by providing financial support.
The lawsuit adds that Mr Cage bought an apartment for their son next door to his own residence, bailed him out of jail multiple times, and drank alcohol with him despite knowing about his alleged struggles with substance abuse.
In a statement to the BBC, Nicolas Cage’s lawyer, Brian Wolf, said the lawsuit was “absurd”.
“Weston Coppola is a 34 year old man,” Mr Wolf said. “Mr Cage does not control Weston’s behavior in any manner and is not responsible for Weston’s alleged assault of his mother.”
Weston Cage’s lawyer, Michael A Goldstein, said Ms Fulton’s decision to file a lawsuit against her own son was not surprising, given what he described as her past history of litigation against family members.
“It appears to be nothing short of a money grab and call for attention,” said Mr Goldstein. Ms Fulton correctly advised the responding LAPD officers that her son was in the midst of a mental health crisis at the time of the incident, he added.
In an interview with the BBC, Joseph Farzam, the attorney representing Ms Fulton, agreed that most people are not responsible for their adult children’s actions.
But he said the law was very clear that a parent can be responsible for an adult child with any mental disability if they cannot support themselves.
“This is a unique situation,” he told the BBC. “Weston has a history of violence and his father has not stopped him, but enabled him, bailed him and made the situation much worse.”
Ms Fulton, who was in a relationship with Nicolas Cage from 1988-91, previously sued the actor in 2009 over a financial dispute.
She alleged he owed her $13m (£10m) and had reneged on a promise to buy her a home in Hancock Park, a wealthy LA enclave. That case was settled in 2011 under undisclosed terms.
This is not the first bout of legal trouble for Weston Cage.
In 2011, he and his then-wife, Nikki Williams, were arrested on felony domestic violence charges.
In 2017, he was detained on suspicion of driving under the influence and hit-and-run. He pleaded no contest, was given three years of probation and had to go to a recovery programme and complete community service.
