After being found not guilty of four counts of sexual assault yesterday, Kevin Spacey sobbed his way through an emotional series of thank-yous.
He saved a special thank you, though, to his manager and “best friend,” Evan Lowenstein.
He wasn’t the only one to thank the failed pop star-turned-manager. Outside the courthouse, as jurors were waiting for Spacey to emerge, one told Lowenstein: “Well done”. Many believe that the manager and friend of the actor was the one “calling the shots” in the trial, and the brain behind the operation to rehabilitate the disgraced star.
Evan Lowenstein, 49, grew up in an Orthodox Jewish family in Tucker, Georgia. Of Russian, Ukrainian, and Romanian Jewish descent, he attended Yeshiva High School with his twin brother, with whom he later formed a band.
Musicians Evan and Jaron Lowenstein attend the BMG Post-Grammy Party following the 46th Annual Grammy Awards at the Avalon on February 8, 2004 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Vince Bucci/Getty Images)
The duo – Evan and Jaron – are self-proclaimed “one-hit wonders,” enjoying a brief flirtation with fame in 2000 with their single Crazy for this Girl.
Lowenstein got the job with Spacey after the actor fired his previous manager in 2016, just before allegations against him surfaced in 2017. He got the job – according to a former associate – because he’s “good looking and charismatic”.
Lowenstein then reportedly removed all of Spacey’s team, and became a friend and confidant to the actor, and the two were seen together in 2016 at events from the Emmys to a Djokovic match at the US Open.
In January this year, Spacey called him his “best friend” and “the brother [he] never had”. “It’s impossible to tell you all what he’s done,” he said. “The degree of guidance and wisdom that he has brought into my life”.
That guidance could be seen as Spacey left the court. As we waved to the cameras, he showed off a silver ring on the middle finger of his left hand.
The ring was a gift from Lowenstein after three months spent travelling together in 2019. Engraved on the ring in Hebrew are the words “This too shall pass”.
Lowenstein was reportedly also responsible for the Christmas Eve video with which Spacey broke his silence in 2019. “I know you want me back,” he said, in character as Frank Underwood from the Netflix series House of Cards. He continued: “My confidence grows each day that soon enough you will know the truth”.
At the time, Spacey had been charged with multiple counts of sexual assault. The same year, Evan Lowenstein’s ex-wife Kassini Cohen submitted a petition to modify her divorce settlement with Lowenstein, with whom she has four children.
“The reality is,” read her petition, “the former husband is not capable of shared parental responsibility”. Cohen claimed that her youngest child, then seven years old, burned himself while playing with matches alone.
Cohen’s petition asked that Lowenstein not allow the children – who were all minors at the time – to “interact” with Spacey.
Lowenstein has since remarried, and Spacey thanked both him and his wife, Lucinda, for attending each day of trial proceedings at the Southwark Crown Court.
The trial lasted four weeks, and exonerated Spacey of nine counts of sexual offences against four men. The Oscar-winning actor, 64, was one of the most high profile men in Britain against whom allegations surfaced during the Me Too movement.
