Scott Eastwood's Heartbreaking Confession: The Tragedy That Changed Everything

Scott Eastwood has opened up about the devastating loss of his late girlfriend, Jewel Brangman, revealing how her death in a crash involving a defective airbag continues to affect him years later. Speaking on a recent episode of the Armchair Expert podcast, the actor reflected on the tragedy, explaining that Brangman died in 2014 after what he believes should have been a relatively minor car accident. The actor opens up about the devastating death of his ex-girlfriend Scott Eastwood opened up about the tragic death of his ex-girlfriend. Credit: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Ralph Lauren "We were together for three or four years," Eastwood said. "They had a recall on the airbag and what would've been a fender bender that probably most people would've survived... she was essentially shot by the airbag." At the time of the accident, Eastwood was away filming a movie, leaving him unable to immediately return home. "I was on another film set at the time," he recalled. "And being on a film set when someone passes or something happens, it's really tough." The 40-year-old explained that it was not the first time he had experienced the loss of someone close while working. "This had happened before, I had lost Paul Walker on Fury," he said, referring to the actor's death in a 2013 car crash while Eastwood was filming the 2014 war movie. "He was one of my close friends. When you're on a film set, you don't have time to grieve because the show must go on." Eastwood, the son of the Hollywood veteran Clint Eastwood and Jacelyn Reeves, said the demands of filming meant he had little choice but to continue working. "You can't fly home," he said. "You're stuck because you've gotta work." Instead, he admitted he pushed his emotions aside after receiving the news. "I got the call actually during a filming day and I think I did a classic defense mechanism of, 'Just punt that to later. Compartmentalize that 'til later,'" he explained. "[It was] brutal having to deal with that and then not being able to go through that." Eastwood discusses grief's impact Looking back, Eastwood believes delaying his grief wasn't the healthiest approach. "I grieved later," he said. "And that's not a great thing because I think you do want to grieve with the people that are around that you didn't know that were a part of their lives, as well. I think that's an important part of the grieving process." The actor had previously spoken publicly about Brangman's death during an interview with GQ Australia in 2016. "I dated a girl a couple of years ago who died in a car accident," he said at the time. "There was a recall on airbags. Her airbag exploded. It shot a projectile through her body. It split her spine, and um ... I've never told anybody that." He continued: "I've lost friends before; I've lost some great friends. But, I had never lost someone I had been really intimate with, you know, like in that way, in a relationship." Eastwood also acknowledged that the tragedy changed how he approached relationships. "I think that really affected me in a way that ... I don't know," he admitted. "Maybe it's made it harder for me to date." Featured Image. Credit: Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Ralph Lauren