The actress, known for her role as horror hostess Elvira, has come clean about her sexuality and revealed her longtime partner as she releases her tell-all book.
- Sep 22, 2021
AceShowbiz - Beloved TV and movie icon Elvira, Mistress of the Dark has revealed she's gay in a new memoir.
The actress and television personality, real name Cassandra Peterson, has also opened up about her secret 19-year romance with another woman in "Yours Cruelly, Elvira".
Peterson recalls falling for Teresa Wierson at the gym.
"Often, when I was doing my pre-workout warm-up on the treadmill, I couldn't help noticing one particular trainer - tan, tattooed, and muscular - stalking across the gym floor, knit cap pulled so low over his long brown hair that it nearly covered his eyes. Dark and brooding, he gave off such intense energy that when he crossed the enormous gym floor, the waters parted and people stopped in their tracks to stare," she wrote.
She soon realised her "bad boy" was in fact female.
They became friends and then housemates following the end of their relationships.
"There on the doorstep stood my trainer, T, holding a trash bag full of her belongings, looking sad and bedraggled," she added. "She'd split from her longtime partner, spent some time in rehab, and now had no place to go."
Peterson and Wierson lived together and then gradually fell in love.
"I'd never been interested in women as anything other than friends. I felt so confused. This just wasn't me!" the actress recalled in the book. "I was stunned that I'd been friends with her for so many years and never noticed our chemistry. I soon discovered that we connected sexually in a way I'd never experienced."
Wierson became Elvira's assistant, so they could be together while keeping their relationship private, but Peterson decided it was time to reveal all when she started to write her memoir - even though she knew some fans would be upset.
"Would my fans hate me for not being what they expected me to be?" she wrote. "I'm very aware that there will be some who will be disappointed and maybe even angry, but I have to live with myself, and at this point in my life, I've got to be truthful about who I am... For the first time in my life, I'm with someone who makes me feel safe, blessed, and truly loved."
