Get the latest gossip

James Dean Told Elizabeth Taylor His Childhood Priest Sexually Abused Him, 'Shared His Deepest Pain' with Her

James Dean "shared his deepest pain" with his 'Giant' costar Elizabeth Taylor and confided to her that his childhood priest sexually abused him, according to the new biography 'Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean'.

When James Dean became a massive movie star in 1955 with the back-to-back classics East of Eden and Rebel Without a Cause, he set a new standard for iconic masculinity. And while that brooding, dangerous-but-squishy-on-the-inside schtick made women swoon and cleared the way for the emergence of rock & roll teen idols like Elvis Presley, Dean, according to age-old Hollywood lore, was secretly gay. After Taylor died in 2011, writer Kevin Sessums said she had told him about the molestation during a 1997 interview for POZ magazine but made him promise it would remain off the record until after her death, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Get the Android app