A day after the legendary Elizabeth Taylor was laid to rest, an interview she previously gave off the record about James Dean has come to light. Elizabeth had said she wanted it off the record until she died. It also makes you wonder how much else is out there that will be revealed about the life of this woman. You just know that she knew everything and everyone. Elizabeth said that during the filming of Giant, she and James Dean would have long talks and during one of those talks, he confessed to Elizabeth that when he as younger he had been molested by his minister.
"I loved Jimmy. I'm going to tell you something, but it's off the record until I die. OK? When Jimmy was 11 and his mother passed away, he began to be molested by his minister."
Elizabeth went on to say that it affected James Dean at that point in his life and all throughout his life. I wonder if he had lived how big of a star he could have been or if because he died so soon he was an even greater legend then he would have been otherwise.
I could see that being the case with James Dean. I wonder how much juice she gave out with those instructions? Hopefully a lot.
ReplyDeleteI think he is a greater legend now for having died so young. I don't think he would have been as big if he had lived. More mysterious this way which lends itself to being a bigger legend.
ReplyDeleteI think Elizabeth knew everything about everybody. Apparently she was very well liked, and people just opened up to her.
ReplyDeleteIf you watch his films...he's a nervous actor...lots of twitching and tics...I think dying young created the legend.
ReplyDeletePoor Jimmy.
ReplyDeleteI'm an unabashed Elizabeth fan, and am really dreading the time when people will start talking about "unrevealed" shit about her now that she's gone. If you're going to say shit, say it while they're alive and can defend themselves.
Has anyone seen if that minister has been identified?
ReplyDeleteThat is just awful and I hope the rotten pedophile scumbag is in Hell where he belongs. Poor James! : (
ReplyDeleteit breaks my heart when i hear of a monster take advantage of a beautiful child that is vulnerable like that.
ReplyDeletei guess he literally ended his life racing from demons.
i wonder if this is where a lot of the gay rumors kick in. he was just dealing with being molested by having affairs. i never really saw him as gay just very very confused. And beautiful.
I've heard horrible rumors about Dean's own predilection for young folks; if the dreadful rumors I've heard are true and if what Liz said is true, then we have an explanation. May God have mercy on us all.
ReplyDeletewow...devastating if it's true. :( so much talent there.
ReplyDeleteand have to agree w/ RQ...i think it's just a matter of time before LT stories begin to pop up...i think defamation and slander are inevitable, and that makes me very, very sad.
ya but RQ..Liz just DID that to James dean. she's always talking something about whoever just died. fair play,i say...she's got LOADS of skeletons.
ReplyDeleteJames Dean was really tortured by his own confusion about his sexuality and if this is true,we now know why.
if rumours are true, he lived his life as a gay man his last years.
I have gay 40 yr old BFF that is still struggling with being molested by his mother and one of his mom's paramour's son, both at 1He locked it away for so long and abused himself with drugs, alcohol and unsafe sex. So i can see how James Dean too self-medicated.
ReplyDelete@jax, but did she?? This dude is just SAYING she said to release it, which is my point. Maybe she said it, maybe she didn't, maybe she told him to never tell a soul ever.
ReplyDeleteLiz was never shy about her skeletons. It's all out there.
Whoa whoa whoa. Just clarifying something--one's adult sexual orientation is not necessarily determined by exposure to sexual abuse as a child. This is a myth about bisexuality and homosexuality that has to stop now.
ReplyDeleteNone of us are James Dean--none of us know how he thought of his own sexuality. So let's not link his sexuality to the sexual abuse he suffered as a child.
I don't mean to be soapbox-y, but this is one of the biggest issues non-straight people face: people assume we've been sexually abused as a child.
As for this news, if it is true, it is tragic. I don't understand how it was Elizabeth Taylor's business to reveal it, though.
This story would fit with the Hollywood Babylon story about James Dean also being termed "The Human Ashtray" for his desire of physical abuse.
ReplyDeleteZ no one is claiming he was gay becuase he was abused.
ReplyDeleteIt does make sense thought why he seemed so fragile and again if rumors acted out sexually with both men and women.
james dean would've been just as big if he'd lived. the guy was a really great actor, but a very tortured soul.
ReplyDeletei was actually around when he was working and saw his movies when they came out---not later on TMC or something. he was big. like brando big. i think he would've been a legend no matter what.
Remember, we're talking about somebody in 1950s America. Think about just how tortured and confused many non-straight people are *now* about their sexuality, and then consider that in the 1950s homosexuality was illegal and considered a mental illness and people were given shock treatments and even lobotomized in an attempt to "cure" their homosexuality. In the 1950s there were no positive role models, nobody to say "It Gets Better" because back then it didn't. In the UK the year before James Dean died, Alan Turing, the father of computer science and one of the greatest minds the world has ever known, committed suicide after he was convicted of homosexual behavior and forced to undergo chemical castration.
ReplyDeleteThat was the world James Dean grew up in, even if he hadn't been molested, society at the time was bad enough to make any non-straight person seriously messed up on its own.
The minister was the Reverend James DeWeerd. DeWeerd was the Wesleyan Youth Minister in Fairmount. He took Jimmy "under his wing" - ahem -- and Jim was molested. Elizabeth was entirely correct. Jim told a lot of people. Everyone in Fairmount knows this happened.
ReplyDeleteJames Dean made three movies and got two Oscar nominations. The idea that he is famous because he died young is woefully inadequate.
Oh, and the story in Hollywood Babylon about the human ashtray is total bunk. Jim's roommate of many years has established that.
For more on this story, check out (ahem) my article here.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2886580/the_true_story_of_james_dean.html?cat=49
Oh, and Jimmy wasn't gay, he was bisexual, believe me there are women with pictures ... lots of pictures. And no, you don't want to see them. Some things cannot be unseen.
ReplyDeleteJames Dean would have been HUGE because he also wanted to direct and if you heard how he wanted to tweak the characters he played on screen, he'd have been a huge star.
ReplyDeleteGood stuff, Melody!
ReplyDeleteDo we really need to know this? Liz shouldn't have told the reporter and they shouldn't have released it. There are certain things that don't belong to the world and should be respected. It wasn't Liz's secret to tell.
ReplyDeleteThanks, RQ.
ReplyDelete@rose, yes, we do need to know this. There's no shame in being molested. The knowledge that Dean was molested may embolden other young people to admit to the fact. Jimmy was hardly quiet about it. The only reason he didn't prosecute the man is because he felt sorry for him.
Hope she kept a diary.
ReplyDeleteAnyone can come out of the wood work and say, "Elizabeth Taylor said this, that or the other" when she didn't.
ReplyDeleteAnother survivor dies too young. May he rest in peace now.
ReplyDeletewww.reasonsyoushouldntfuckkids.wordpress.com