Turns out being fake-married by Denzel Washington on live television isn’t the path to permanent marital bliss.
The “groom” who took those vows, known worldwide as “Gary from Chicago,” now says he and his fiancee broke up less than a week after their surprise appearance on the 2017 Academy Awards.
Gary Alan Coe, now 60, was among the unsuspecting tourists whisked into the Dolby Theater and made the star attractions midway through last year’s Oscarcast. As host Jimmy Kimmel interviewed the party crashers, he took a liking to Coe and arranged for him and Vicky Vines to get married on the spot by Washington, Vines’ favorite actor.
Coe, a South Shore native, tells the Hollywood Reporter that his “bride” at the mock ceremony was overwhelmed by the experience as well as the recent death of her twin brother, dooming the couple. He’s now engaged to another woman and living in Fresno, California.
The media spotlight also exposed Cole as a lawbreaker who had been released from prison just three days before the awards.
“It was horrible,” he said of the media coverage that followed. “I didn’t ask to be put on the Oscars. I was minding my own business, walking down the street. I was like, ‘Wow, that’s crazy — that’s America for you.’ ”
THR reports Coe, a registered sex offender, had been convicted of multiple crimes including attempted rape, and he was serving a sentence under California’s three-strikes law.
Coe now sees a parallel between himself and a bigger Hollywood player accused of sexual misconduct. “Look what happened to Harvey Weinstein! Come to find out that the people up in really high places are the ones we should’ve been watching,” he said, “and not some poor little black guy that’s been locked away in prison for the last 20 years!”
Despite the unwanted scrutiny, Cole saw an upside to his moment of fame, noting, “It was great for my family and friends to see me on the Oscars.”
