Cassandra Peterson, the woman behind iconic horror host Elvira, recently surprised fans by coming out. As it turns out, she’s managed to hide her relationship with another woman named Teresa “T” Wierson for the past 19 years. The truth was revealed in her upcoming memoir Yours Cruelly, Elvira, and now she’s given her first interview since revealing the relationship.
As revealed on The Tamron Hall Show:
“It is scary and exciting, but also I’m very relieved and so is my partner. Holding in secrets all the time gives you gas,” Peterson told Hall. “I mean it’s, I was just reading an interview with the actor Danny Trejo, who’s a friend and he said, ‘You’re only as sick as your secrets.’ It really does, it’s not a good feeling, keeping that from people.”
Cassandra Peterson further revealed to Yahoo! Entertainment about her decision to keep the relationship a secret for so many years. As it turns out, she did it to try and protect the Elvira brand.
“She’s always after guys, guys are chasing her, and I am the owner of a brand. And I felt I had to protect that brand,” Peterson stated.
In fact, as it turned out, she even tried to do the same for her previous marriage where she was with a man.
“If I was married for 25 years to the same man, I didn’t want people to know that, because I think it would turn off a lot of male fans, you know?” Peterson explained. “So, I just kept my relationships private as I could, just to keep the character intact.”
Interestingly, however, she decided it was best to come open with the secret. And because of that, she feels a lot better about herself. In fact, even Wierson would’ve been fine keeping their relationship a secret still – but ultimately it seems to have worked out for the best.
“I had to really, really talk her into letting me put this [in the book], because she doesn’t want to be in the public eye,” Peterson told Yahoo!. “She’s not that kind of person. As far as she was concerned, it was great being that way. But I think it will be nice not to have to hide it, and for her and me not to have to lie to people all the time, which is basically what we were doing. I hate that.”
Fortunately, it seems that many of Cassandra Peterson’s fans are supportive of her decision. Indeed, it looks like it will only strengthen her brand rather than weaken it as she was once so afraid of.