Steven Seagal’s Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: From Action Star to Outcast
Years before his fall from grace, Steven Seagal openly predicted his own decline, reflecting on fame, fortune, and the shifting tides of public opinion.
Steven Seagal’s name doesn’t carry the same weight it once did. These days, he’s more likely to pop up as the butt of a joke than as a leading man. He’s dabbled in everything from acting and music to law enforcement, and even counts Vladimir Putin as a mate. But back in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, he was the bloke everyone wanted in their next big action flick. His debut in Above the Law in 1988 kicked off a string of hits that put martial arts front and centre in cinemas, with Seagal’s unique style drawing crowds wherever the story took him—city, bush, or boat.
Fame’s Highs and Lows
But as the saying goes, what goes up must come down. Seagal himself seemed to know this better than most. In a chat with Parade magazine, he didn’t sugarcoat his outlook on the future.
“I’m thoroughly expecting to end up in the gutter, to no longer be the star that people think I am right now,”
he admitted.
“And that’s OK. You can take away the money and the fame… I could walk away from Hollywood tomorrow and not look back… I’m a lucky man, but I don’t take what I have for granted.”
These words came out in 1994, just as he was releasing his only directorial effort, On Deadly Ground. At that point, he was still riding the wave, but the cracks were starting to show.
From Blockbusters to Bargain Bins
As the years rolled on, the quality of his films took a nosedive. By the time he starred alongside Ja Rule in the much-maligned Half Past Dead, punters had lost interest. The big-budget gigs dried up, and Seagal found himself churning out direct-to-DVD titles, a space he’s never really left. His music career didn’t do him any favours either—let’s just say lyrics like “Me want the poonani” didn’t win him any new fans.
It wasn’t just his work that turned people off. Seagal’s name became linked to a string of legal dramas, from sexual harassment claims to accusations of human trafficking and inappropriate relationships. The bloke who once packed out cinemas became a punchline, the go-to example of a star who’d well and truly lost his way.
Seeing the Writing on the Wall
Looking back, it’s a bit of a head-scratcher to hear Seagal talk so openly about his own downfall before it even happened. There’s something both funny and a bit sad about his acceptance of a future in the gutter. It makes you wonder what he saw coming, and if he ever thought about changing course. But, as things stand, those questions are likely to stay unanswered.