Organizers of the June festival decide to cancel the screenings of 'The Quiet One' and its Q&A session after locals made a fuss over The Rolling Stones co-founder's relationship with Mandy Smith.
- April 9, 2019
AceShowbiz - A documentary about The Rolling Stones co-founder Bill Wyman has been pulled following complaints about past underage sex claims.
"The Quiet One", a documentary drawing on Wyman's personal archive of films and photographs from his career, was due to receive its European premiere, with the rocker present for a Q&A session, at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in England on June 7.
However, locals complained about organisers giving him a platform due to his controversial relationship with his second wife Mandy Smith. They met in 1984 when she was just 13 years old and he was 47, she later claimed that they first had sex when she was 14. They married in 1989, after she turned 18, but separated after just two years of marriage and later divorced.
Following complaints that Wyman was a "sexual predator" and a "child rapist" on the festival's Facebook page organisers wrote: "We truly appreciate you alerting us to the issue. It has been passed on to our management who are taking this very seriously."
They later confirmed the premiere would not go ahead, adding: "Sheffield Doc/Fest has decided to cancel screenings of The Quiet One and the associated Q&A with Oliver Murray & Bill Wyman. All purchased tickets will be refunded."
Wyman quit the Rolling Stones in 1993 and has largely remained out of the public eye, rejoining the group on stage at a gig in 2012 and touring with his band Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings.
In 2010 Smith claimed she and her future husband had slept together when she was underage, saying that he should have faced jail time.
"If it happened today, he would be absolutely vilified by the press," she told Britain's Daily Mail newspaper. "He'd be in jail. For me, for a long time, it was a grey area. I was underage, but I was complicit. Now, I see it in black and white. I work with teenagers. I see how vulnerable they are under all that bravado."
Wyman said in 2013 that he'd referred himself to the police due to the underage sex claims but that he was told he would not face prosecution. He is now married to the actress Suzanne Accosta, with whom he has three daughters.
