Columbus Short comprehends completely that his carefully cultivated image of a matinee idol has been contaminated by his domestic violence charges, the latest happening in February 2022.
The once rising star in Hollywood, who powered the urban classics Stomp the Yard and This Christmas, is now afraid that his charges of spousal abuse against his ex-wife and current wife have eclipsed all that he has built in his film career.
Short was abruptly removed from the role of a lifetime in Shonda Rhimes’ juggernaut series “Scandal” when he was accused of putting his hands on his ex-wife, Tanee McCall, in 2014. In 2016, his ex-girlfriend Karrine Steffans successfully filed for a restraining order against him for alleged threats of violence. In 2018, he was hit again with a domestic violence charge, this time with his third wife, Aida Abramyan Short, according to People magazine. And now he’s emerged from yet another case involving Aida Short in February.
Short sat down with Fox Soul’s “Cocktails With Queens” to admit his current legal dilemma has negatively impacted him image-wise and mentally.
“Let me tell you what really happened,” Short, 39, began. “I asked my wife to leave the home due to my frustration, and I grabbed her phone, which I shouldn’t have did, and I scratched her hand.”
Short admits he’s now afraid to even see the headlines.
“Every time a headline comes out, I go into these panic attacks. So I’m like man, let me get out in front of this thing. I wasn’t advised to do that. I just did that. I think that wasn’t the best thing to do, but I said it. You know what? I stopped the press because they tucked that story,” Short said.
There have been emotional consequences from the legal matters and subsequent blaring headlines.
“All of a sudden, I’m more famous being an alleged abuser than I am for the work I really put [in] in my entire life,” Short told the co-hosts.
Flip the page to view the interview in its entirety.
