Inside the Tragic Death of Scott Eastwood's Girlfriend Jewel Brangman — After 'Faulty Airbag' Left Her With Fatal Injuries
Scott Eastwood admitted her death 'really affected me.'
Sept. 3 2026, Published 5:00 a.m. ET
Scott Eastwood and Jewel Brangman were still together when she tragically died in September 2014. More than a decade after Brangman's death, the Fast X actor offered a rare glimpse into their relationship during an August 3 appearance on the Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard podcast.
"We were together for three or four years," said Eastwood.
RadarOnline.com can reveal everything to know about Brangman and the fatal accident.
Who Was Scott Eastwood's Late Girlfriend?
Scott Eastwood's late girlfriend, Jewel Brangman, was 26 at the time of her death.
Brangman was born on November 5, 1987, and raised alongside her older brother by their single father, Alexander Brangman.
According to Alexander's website, Jewel was a "model, gymnast, and gymnastics teacher who was preparing for her Ph.D."
What Happened to Jewel Brangman?
Scott Eastwood said he and Jewel Brangman were together for 'three or four years.'
On September 7, 2014, Jewel was driving a rented 2001 Honda Civic from San Diego to Los Angeles when she rear-ended a van and suffered fatal injuries.
"Jewel had been in a fender bender in a rental car when a faulty airbag exploded on impact, sending shards of shrapnel into her carotid artery," the About page of Alexander's website reads. "She died the next day. Passengers in the three other cars involved in the accident walked away virtually unscathed."
It adds, "The faulty Takata airbag in the Honda that Jewel Brangman was driving had been recalled in 2009, but no measures were in place to ensure that the faulty product was replaced."
Jewel's death led her father to file a wrongful death lawsuit against Honda, the airbag manufacturer and the vehicle's rental company. Honda and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration later determined that the airbag had deployed with excessive force, sending metal fragments into the car.
According to the report, Japan-based Takata Corp. used ammonium nitrate as the airbags' inflating agent, but the chemical could become unstable when exposed to moisture and cause the metal canister to explode.
"I had Jewel for 26 years, 11 months, 9 hours and 15 minutes," Alexander said, per the website. "We had an exceptional relationship – she was everything to me, and I was everything to her. This isn't the journey most people want to take, but I'm here. I feel a duty to uplift, educate, help others, and save lives. That's what Jewel would have wanted."
What Has Scott Eastwood Said About Jewel Brangman's Death?
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Scott Eastwood spoke about his grief years after Jewel Brangman's death.
Eastwood was asked about the last time he cried during a 2016 interview with GQ Australia.
"I dated a girl a couple of years ago who died in a car accident," he said at the time, referring to Jewel.
Eastwood recalled that the crash itself was only a "fender bender," but the recalled airbag exploded and "shot a projectile through her body," causing fatal injuries.
"It split her spine, and um... I've never told anybody that," he added. "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. I think that really affected me in a way that... I don't know. Maybe it's made it harder for me to date."
The Gran Torino actor made another rare comment about Jewel and their relationship on Shepard's podcast, explaining that the recalled, defective airbag turned what could have been a survivable crash into a fatal one.
"Being on a film set when someone passes, or something happens, it's really tough because you don't have time to grieve. The show must go on," he explained. "You can't fly home, you're stuck, you've got to work."
Per Eastwood, he dealt with Jewel's death by shutting down emotionally and putting his grief aside until later, describing it as a "classic defense mechanism." He admitted he "completely blacked out" the experience and did not allow himself to fully process the loss at the time, which was "not a great thing."
"You do want to grieve with the people that are around that you know and were part of their lives as well. That's an important part of the grieving process," he shared. "I had to deal with that grief later."
