The Deadly Crime Matthew Broderick Was Charged With

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For stars who live their life in the spotlight, it's often difficult to escape past mistakes. Even celebrities who got off easy for serious crimes can't avoid the air of scrutiny that follows them everywhere. For instance, despite decades of success, actor Matthew Broderick can't ignore the fact that, during a trip to Northern Ireland in 1987 with his "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" co-star and then-girlfriend, Jennifer Grey, an unexpected car accident led to the death of two other individuals.

According to People, Broderick and Grey rented a BMW, but the couple got lost multiple times on their drive north. There was speculation that Broderick had swapped sides of the road to the right, as if he were in America, after a rainstorm left the roadway wet. The reason? Despite the fact that the road was straight and unobstructed, the actor's car hit a Volvo head-on, killing a woman named Anna Gallagher and her mother, Margaret Doherty. Sadly, Broderick isn't the only celebrity who has killed someone in real life.

"We had to cut the side away from the American's car to give him first aid," Ken Ramsey, of the local fire brigade, said at the time. Ramsey added that, while Broderick was in pain, "his main concern was for the people in the other car." Ramsey recalled, "He kept saying 'Did I hurt them? Did I hurt them?'" Grey suffered only superficial bruises, but Ramsey noted, "She was very brave and supportive." Unfortunately, when it comes to the mental repercussions of such a tragic accident, it seems neither star has ever fully recovered.

Although Matthew Broderick was behind the wheel when his rental car instantly killed two women, the "Election" star can't recall the details of the tragic day. "I don't remember the day," Broderick said (via the New York Post). "I don't remember even getting up in the morning. I don't remember making my bed. What I first remember is waking up in the hospital, with a very strange feeling going on in my leg." The limb was fractured, and he had also suffered a concussion and collapsed lung. After the collision, Broderick remained at a hospital in Belfast for four weeks.

Broderick was first charged with causing death by dangerous driving, which carries a maximum five-year prison sentence. However, the charges were ultimately downgraded to careless driving — for which he was fined only $175 — as he wasn't under the influence. The victims' family called the charges "a travesty of justice," but Martin Doherty, brother and son of the women who died, eventually forgave the actor. "He didn't kill my mother and sister deliberately," he said.

Broderick, on the other hand, had a much more difficult time forgiving himself. "It was extremely difficult coming to grips with what happened, but in time I felt better about that terrible experience," he told Best magazine (via the New York Post). "Therapy helped." 

For Jennifer Grey, the car accident in Northern Ireland left her relatively unscathed in a physical sense, but as the "Dirty Dancing" star told People, she never truly recovered mentally. "One minute we're going down the road and music is playing, and the next minute ... it's all different," she said. "I couldn't be fearless after that." 

The tragedy occurred right before Grey's "Dirty Dancing" promotional tour began in 1987. However, by the time the actor achieved superstardom alongside her late co-star Patrick Swayze, whom Grey had a rocky relationship with, the accident had left her disenchanted by the prospect of fame. "I became America's sweetheart within five days of the accident," Grey recalled. "The juxtaposition of that deep sorrow, the survivor's guilt ... and then being celebrated as the new big thing just didn't jibe. It didn't feel good to be the toast of the town." She added: "My body was never the same, my head was never the same, my ambition was never the same." As for Grey and Broderick's relationship, they broke up in 1988.

Grey later revealed that the whiplash from the accident left her with chronic pain for more than 20 years. It wasn't until ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" that she finally regained control over her body and life. "I had been suffering for so long and didn't fully realize how pain had taken control of my life," Grey told Brain & Life. "I stopped doing so many things that I loved, including dancing, because I didn't want to make the pain worse." While the accident was incredibly unfortunate, it seems Broderick, Grey, and the victims' family have had the opportunity to heal in the aftermath of such horrific tragedy.

"The car accident in Ireland was, I would say, top three traumas of my life, maybe top one," Jennifer Grey told ET while reflecting on the fatal crash some 30 years later in 2022. "It's very hard to describe when you have a near-death experience and are present for the death of other people." In her book, "Out of the Corner: A Memoir," the actor recalls being in a dark place and experiencing survivor's guilt in the aftermath of the crash. She was tormented by the question of why she had lived while the two women in the other car had not. The only way she knew how to cope was to keep going, pretending to move through life as if nothing had ever happened.

Speaking with ABC News in 2010 (via CBS News), the "Dancing with the Stars" champ also revealed how the accident almost left her paralyzed. According to Grey, the impact of the crash was so intense that it tore the ligaments in the back of her neck, causing spasms and leaving her to deal with headaches for days on end. After she underwent spinal surgery in 2010, her doctors made another alarming discovery: a suspicious growth on her thyroid. Fortunately, they were able to remove the cancerous nodule before it had a chance to spread. 

To this day, Grey is still haunted by the tragedy. "I wasn't holding any information that people seem to think I did because they wanted an answer and there was no answer, because it was an accident," she stressed to ET. "And [Matthew Broderick] was a great driver, and nobody was drinking. ... It was tragic, and I think about the family in Ireland all the time."