Rock Hudson’s long-secret “gay confession” to wife resurfaces in juicy Old Hollywood biography
Rock Hudson: All That Heaven Allowed.But just because they weren’t openly talking about it back then doesn’t mean some folks didn’t try to!Subscribe to our newsletter for a refreshing cocktail (or mocktail) of LGBTQ+ entertainment and pop culture, served up with a side of eye-candy.That goes especially for proto-National Enquirer gossip rag, Confidential, which (allegedly) frequently attempted to publish tell-all pieces about Hudson’s sexuality and romantic flings—most of which the actor’s agent Henry Willson would squash in exchange for other tabloid news items (again: allegedly!).Now, thanks to The Fixer: Moguls, Mobsters, Movie Stars, And Marilyn, a juicy new biography about notorious LA private detective Fred Otash who worked with Confidential, we have even more details about the shocking lengths the industry went to keep Hudson’s private life private.Co-authored by Josh Young and Manfred Westphal—who had the blessing of Otash’s daughter to examine the detective’s never-before-seen case files—one of The Fixer‘s biggest revelations involves the P.I., Hudson and his ex-wife Phyllis Gates, blackmail, and star’s secretly recorded, previously unheard gay confession.In the ’50s, as more rumors began to swirl about Hudson’s sexuality, his agent Henry Wilson (who was also gay) arranged for the star to marry Gates, his then secretary, to keep the press at bay.“I was very much in love,” Gates once told Hudson’s posthumous biographer. “I thought he would be a wonderful husband.
He was charming, his career was red hot, he was gorgeous. How many women would have said no?”Standing 6’4″, Rock Hudson was a whole lot of Hollywood.
Here’s a look back at his life, both on and off screen.However, their arrangement gradually lost its allure, and Gates filed for divorce in 1958, “shaken” to learn their relationship was a “fanciful farce,” according to the book. (For the record, it’s also been reported that Gates was a lesbian.) But when it became clear she’d be left with nothing once.
