‘Jurassic Park’ Paleontologist Jack Horner Forced Out Of Montana State For Relationship With 19-Year Old Girl

When Steven Spielberg was working on the 1992 hit Jurassic Park, he went to some paleontologists looking for advise on how they could capture the realism of the dinosaurs on film.

Jack Horner, who is a paleontologist for Montana State, took the role of an adviser for Jurassic Park, and would eventually be the person the Dr. Grant character would be based off of.

The real and now famous Jurassic Park scholar is now coming out to reveal that he was apparently forced out of his 35-year gig a the Museum of the Rockies, over a relationship he had with a 19-year old undergraduate.

According to the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the famed paleontologist — who is now 70-years old, is still not sure what happened when he was stripped of his responsibilities and shown the door.

Actually, it was apparently much nicer than that as he was forced to retire.

Along with his connection to the box-office success of Jurassic Park, Jack Horner was also responsible for turning the Museum of the Rockies into a “world-class center for paleontology,” according to the article.

His 34-years at the Museum was time he devoted to the work he loved, which earned him a MacArthur genius grant, as well as raising more than $7.7-million dollars for the museum along the way.

The report also stated that the problems initially started in 2012, when he married Vanessa Weaver who was 19 at the time, as a way of letting the university know that they should stay out of their business, as the school was already asking questions about their relationship.

By them getting married — even though she already had a boyfriend at the time — they were hoping it would somehow allow them to move on as he greatly “adores” her.

In January of 2012, Vanessa Weaver posted this in her Facebook account.

“I had only disappeared for while to get away from the negative comments coming from the recent events that have happened. It is true, I am married. What people don’t know is the reason I got married. I love him and he is my best friend. Judge all you want about the age difference. It wont matter. He is not my advisor, teacher, employer, and has no say in my grades at MSU. Aside from all of that, I’ve taken the semester off to do my research and let things simmer down. There is no reason to ‘lose respect’ for him. He is still the great paleontologist he has always been. If you want to know why I married him, send me a message and I’ll reply in private. If you could all just be happy for us instead of judging with your negativity, it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks”

It would appear that throughout the rest of the year, she expressed that she was afraid of posting anything in her social media accounts because they might end up in some article.

But the Jurassic Park adviser also describes the Museum of the Rockies director Shelley McKamey and her husband Pat Leiggi as “vindictive” and would keep asking him when he would retire following the news.

He also says that no one at the retirement party that was thrown for him asked if he was going to return.

It was when he was married to Vanessa that the Museum would as the influential Jurassic Park icon what the nature of their relationship was, and he was told how bad the relationship would look on them.

Jack Horner accused the director and his wife of nepotism.

“If you piss off one of them they’re both pissed off at you. There’s nothing fair about the way the place operates.”

The article goes further into detail over things such as Horner’s replacement, and it also mentions that when the Bozeman Daily Chronicle tried to reach the museum director for comment, they refused to answer under the protection of museum policy and state law.

Jack Horner and Vanessa are now divorced, but he says that they still remain good friends.

Since Jack Horner was forced to leave this July, he has since been working at the University of Washington’s new Burke Museum.

The Jurassic Park element appears to “haunt” both Horner and Weaver, as he is still part of the movie series, including 2014’s Jurassic World. And Weaver is seen with Chris Pratt in a photo on her Facebook page, which means her connection to Jack Horner is still a solid one.

Much of what Jack Horner did in the Jurassic Park movies was to influence a then controversial approach to what dinosaurs might have looked like, and prior to the original Jurassic Park film, the portrayal of dinosaurs in movies was completely different from how he portrayed them.

Despite his successes through everythin, including the Jurassic Park films, Jack Horner does not hold any degrees. He is credited for the discovery of the Maiasaura and is the author of eight books.

[Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP]