Old Hollywood Actresses Who Had Secret Affairs with Ladies

In the golden age of Hollywood, the spotlight shone bright on the glamorous actresses who graced the silver screen. But behind the scenes, away from the prying eyes of the public and the studio moguls, some of these icons of Old Hollywood were living secret lives, engaging in forbidden affairs with other women. From the flirtatious Marlene Dietrich, whose dalliances with women were an open secret, to Greta Garbo, the reclusive Swedish star rumored to have had flings with female companions, the L

GBTQ+ history of classic Hollywood is as fascinating as it is overlooked. Then there were actresses like Tallulah Bankhead, the outrageous personality who made no attempts to hide her sexual appetites, both on and off the screen. Her unapologetic pursuit of relationships with women was decades ahead of its time. In this facts-packed video, we'll pull back the veil on the clandestine romances between some of the most famous actresses of the era and their female lovers. Secret passions, sizzling s

candals, and defiant love stories that had to remain strictly confidential in the unforgiving spotlights of Hollywood's golden years. Facts Verse Presents: Old Hollywood Actresses Who Had Secret Affairs with Ladies Tallulah Bankhead One of the most infamous ladies of Old Hollywood when it came to same-sex dalliances was Tallulah Bankhead. The outrageous and unapologetic stage and screen star was extremely open about her voracious sexual appetite, with affairs and one-night stands with both men a

nd women. According to reports, Bankhead was initiated into lesbian sex at the young age of 16 by an older actress named Hope Williams. From there, she took to it quickly and wholeheartedly, seeking out sexual encounters "of every variety constantly, hungrily, and without reservation." Her list of suspected female lovers reads like a who's who of famous actresses from the era - Greta Garbo, Billie Holiday, Hattie McDaniel, Libby Holman, Eva Le Gallienne, Barbara Stanwyck and more. Bankhead didn'

t bother hiding her sexuality from the public either. She was known to bluntly introduce herself as "I'm a lesbian" at parties. When praised for her beauty, she quipped "Yes, but talent goes deeper than a pretty face, thank God!" Her brashness and refusal to conform to societal expectations of feminine decorum earned her the brand of having "verbal moral turpitude" from Hollywood censors. Ryan Murphy's recent Netflix series Hollywood leaned into the persistent rumors of Bankhead's affair with Ha

ttie McDaniel, the first black actress to win an Oscar. In one episode, the pair are portrayed cozily at McDaniel's home, recounting an all-night tryst with one of Hollywood's male sex workers. While neither woman ever explicitly confirmed being together, their rumored lesbian relationship has become Tinseltown lore over the decades. With her hedonistic, convention-defying approach to sexuality and life in general, Tallulah Bankhead was decades ahead of her time. She lived brazenly by her own ru

les and satisfied her every desire, making her a true queer icon of classic Hollywood. Eva Le Gallienne Though not as famous today as some of her contemporaries, Eva Le Gallienne was a major figure on the Broadway and Hollywood scenes in the early 20th century. The actress was also one of the era's most prominent lesbians and created safe havens for LGBTQ performers and creatives. Le Gallienne was born into a life of relative privilege in England, but rebelled against the conservative values of

her family from an early age. She ran off to Paris as a teenager to study art and explore her sexuality. It was there that she began her first romantic relationship with an older woman named Aimee Loring. After achieving success on the London stage, Le Gallienne moved to New York City in 1915. She soon became the gravitational center of a vibrant gay cultural scene. Her apartment drew artists, writers, and fellow lesbians seeking respite from the rampant homophobia and oppression of the time. In

1926, Le Gallienne took her activism a step further by co-founding the Civic Repertory Theatre, where she installed openly gay and bisexual performers in leading roles - a radical act of representation. Two years later she formed the Repertory Theatre, producing productions written by LGBTQ writers. In her romantic life, Le Gallienne was affiliated with the infamous "Sewing Circle" of lesbian and bisexual actresses in Hollywood's underground. She exchanged wedding rings with author Mercedes de

Acosta during their years-long affair. Other rumored lovers included actresses Alla Nazimova, Tallulah Bankhead, and theatrical legend Laurette Taylor. Throughout her trailblazing career, Eva Le Gallienne proudly embraced her identity and created protective communities for her LGBTQ peers. She lived as an unapologetic lesbian at a time when it could mean complete social ostracization. Thanks to Le Gallienne's bravery, future generations found inspiration to live their truth as well. Marlene Diet

rich The glamorous German-born actress Marlene Dietrich was both an iconic movie star and a prolific lover of women behind the scenes. Her insatiable appetite for seducing beautiful actresses and female companions was "notorious and compulsive", according to one account. Dietrich got an early start, engaging in a scandalous affair with the young Greta Garbo while they were co-stars in the 1920s Berlin theater scene. Though merely 19 at the time, Dietrich is said to have utterly devastated the "s

imple" and "sensitive" Garbo through their torrid dalliance. The bitter experience caused Garbo to deny ever knowing Dietrich for the rest of her life. But Dietrich's reputation as a lesbian lothario only grew from there as she became a top star in Hollywood. She had relationships with a number of her famous contemporaries, including Greta Garbo again, as well as Mercedes de Acosta, Claudette Colbert and Barbara Stanwyck. Film critic Kenneth Tynan even wrote of Dietrich's unique sexual energy, s

tating "She has sex but no positive gender. Her masculinity appeals to women and her sexuality to men." This aligned with Dietrich's open embracing of bisexuality and gender-bending both on-screen and off. While publicly Dietrich had husbands and boyfriends, her promiscuous private life was an open secret in Hollywood's underground LGBTQ community. As one historian put it, Marlene "sought sex of every variety constantly, hungrily, and without reservation", chasing down any beautiful woman who ca

ught her eye. Greta Garbo The reclusive Swedish screen icon Greta Garbo maintained an aura of mystery around her personal life, but several of her alleged lesbian affairs were an open secret at the time. Though never publicly out, Garbo lived a life of "unbounded freedom" when it came to sexuality. Her first and perhaps most damaging same-sex experience was her 1920s Berlin fling with the already infamous Marlene Dietrich. As the story goes, the younger Garbo was so emotionally wounded by Dietri

ch's carefree seduction and abandonment that she refused to even acknowledge knowing her for decades afterward. Once in Hollywood, Garbo entered into a years-long romantic and collaborative relationship with actress and writer Salka Viertel, who became her closest friend and confidante. Viertel wrote or co-wrote many of Garbo's most famous films like Queen Christina and served as her acting coach. Their bond was so intense that Garbo is said to have seduced the older Viertel on her birthday one

year, though their sexual connection didn't last. Garbo's other high-profile affair was with Mercedes de Acosta, a wealthy playwright who earned the moniker "Garbo's Gayngster" as she aggressively pursued the movie star. De Acosta initially mesmerized Garbo with tales of her affairs with icons like Isadora Duncan and Marlene Dietrich. But Garbo soon tired of de Acosta's obsessiveness, even as Mercedes would move wherever Garbo moved just to be near her. Through her relationships with these power

ful Hollywood lesbians and bisexuals, Garbo found herself drawn into a secret underground socialite scene sometimes called "the Sewing Circle" where she could explore her identity freely. Despite carefully controlling her public image, Garbo took full advantage of that era's mobility and privacy to live "the unbounded freedom of her life" when it came to sexuality. Barbara Stanwyck One of the most respected and talented actresses of the Golden Age, Barbara Stanwyck was famously driven and marrie

d to her work above all else. But behind the scenes, she gained a reputation in Hollywood's LGBTQ circles as a woman who couldn't resist the company and beds of her fellow actresses. According to reports, Stanwyck had affairs with legendary femme fatales like Joan Crawford, Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo. Her longest-running romance was said to be with her publicist Helen Ferguson, with whom she spent over 30 years in a committed relationship. Stanwyck's sexual fluidity and openness was eviden

t even in her big screen roles. As one historian wrote, "Stanwyck's screen characters defined themselves on their own terms...Stanwyck was emotionally honest, and the way she related to men was different." Her performances seemingly reflected the complexity of her own gender expression and sexuality. But as an ambitious, career-driven star of the studio era, Stanwyck had to keep her same-sex dalliances completely under wraps. At one point, MGM reportedly paid over $100,000 to suppress a lesbian

pornographic film Stanwyck had made early in her career from being released. To the public, Stanwyck put forth a traditional image with her short-lived marriage to actor Frank Fay in the 1930s. But in private, she had the freedom to surround herself with a circle of bisexual and lesbian actresses and creatives. Stanwyck found balance between her two worlds - a trailblazing professional and masculine screen presence alongside indulging her very real attraction to fellow women. Katharine Hepburn T

he fiercely independent and iconoclastic Katharine Hepburn was way ahead of her time as a feminist trailblazer in Hollywood. But decades later, there are still questions around her private romantic life and sexuality. Many historians believe Hepburn was attracted to women, perhaps even exclusively, despite her famous relationship with Spencer Tracy. From her very first days at the all-women's Bryn Mawr College, Hepburn was rumored to be involved with fellow students, including her close friend L

aura Harding. Some accounts claim they were full-on lovers for years, with Harding even accompanying the newlywed Hepburn on her honeymoon. According to infamous Hollywood pimp Scotty Bowers' memoir, he arranged sexual encounters for Hepburn with roughly 150 different women over the course of her career, acting as a kind of madam for closeted actresses. Hepburn herself allegedly told one friend that she had tried sex once and "just didn't like it", insinuating she preferred the company of women.

While Hepburn had a string of famous relationships and affairs with men like Howard Hughes and Tracy, many biographers believe these were beards. There are claims that her romance with the married Tracy was largely a public invention to cover up their true sexualities. On-screen, Hepburn took on masculine roles and played characters attracted to women shockingly often for the era, like her famous "sir" phase in Sylvia Scarlett where she disguises as a man and kisses a maid. She was directed in

projects by openly gay filmmakers like Dorothy Arzner and George Cukor. So while Hepburn vehemently denied being a lesbian in public, her personal and professional life is filled with hints about her true identity as part of the LGBTQ community. Her ambiguous romantic history has made her an icon for generations of closeted actresses and queer Hollywood historians. Whether operating in complete secrecy or embracing their status as Hollywood's "boldest husbands", these icons of the silver screen

that we just discussed lived authentically as lesbians and bisexuals in their private lives. Their enduring legacies shine a light on the often overlooked LGBTQ culture and history within classic cinema's golden age. Now we'd like to hear from you! Which revelation about these legendary actresses' secret same-sex romances most surprised you? Were you aware of the underground "Sewing Circle" of lesbians and bisexuals in Old Hollywood? Who else do you think should be included on this list of LGBTQ

+ trailblazers from classic cinema? Let us know your thoughts and reactions in the comments!