This Old Hollywood Siren Refused To Change Her Sexual Preferences For Anyone
- Photo: Full Service / Grove Press
A Hollywood Hook-Up Expert Connected Hepburn With About 150 Women
Scotty Bowers, a former marine, served an interesting purpose in the golden age of Hollywood: he connected the gay and bisexual actors and actresses of that generation with lovers of their preferred gender. In his 2012 memoir Full Service, he claims he connected Hepburn with roughly 150 women.
It's important to note that Bowers was quite progressive for the era, as he was willing to connect these people together without judgment. He kept their secrets until after their deaths to prevent public scrutiny. In an interview with The New York Times, he said, "... I never saw the fascination. So they liked sex how they liked it. Who cares." Though not every story has been corroborated, multiple people have vouched for Bowers as a reliable source.
- Photo: Smallbones / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
One Of Hepburn's First Rumored Relationships Was With A College Friend
One of Hepburn's earliest relationships with a woman was allegedly with Alice Palache, a fellow student at Bryn Mawr, the all-women's college Hepburn attended. The two had much in common and built a fast friendship, though others read that relationship quite differently.
For example, Hepburn and Palache went to see The Captive, a Broadway show, together. The Captive was notorious for attracting young, unaccompanied female viewers because it depicted a woman trying to decide between an idyllic life and pursuing the woman she loved. Palache also wrote many letters about her attraction to and crushes on women – which some view as being platonic – with one of them detailing a dress she wanted to wear to impress Hepburn. It's unclear whether anything ever happened between the two since such things weren't openly discussed at the time, but their fondness for one another has led many to believe it was more than friendship.
- Photo: Asbury Park Press / Wikimedia Commons / Public Domain
Laura Harding Was Rumored To Be One Of Hepburn's Lovers
Laura Harding was reportedly one half of Hepburn's most famous same-gender relationship. Like all of her rumored couplings, it's unclear whether it was sexual in nature. Harding was even a guest on Hepburn's honeymoon with her husband, Ludlow Ogden Smith – who also brought a companion, Jack Clark – and the two remained friends and may have lived together for much of their lives.
- Photo: Sylvia Scarlett / RKO Radio Pictures
Hepburn Played Many Roles People Viewed As "Masculine"
Hepburn was known as a classic Hollywood starlet, but she was also notorious for flouting traditional gender norms. This extended to her characters, who were often more commanding and emblematic of modern womanhood than typical idyllic Hollywood figures at the time. In college, Hepburn often played men on stage, and, as she began her Hollywood career, she starred in a film by an open lesbian, Dorothy Arzner, which included an unhappy romance with a man. In Sylvia Scarlett, she played a woman who disguised herself as a man and kissed a maid on screen. The film was directed by George Cukor, another openly gay director, and included not only a same-gender kiss between Hepburn's character and the maid, but also some homoeroticism in the way that male characters responded to Hepburn's character's masculine presentation.
- Photo: Woman Of The Year / Warner Home Video
Hepburn May Also Have Had Romantic Relationships With Men
Discussions of Hepburn's sexuality tend to focus on one of two things – her rumored relationships with women as evidence that she was a lesbian, or her documented relationships with men like Howard Hughes, Ludlow Ogden Smith, Leland Hayward, and Spencer Tracy as evidence that she wasn't. According to some sources, the truth is that she was bisexual and romantically interested in people across genders. At the time, she was referred to as a "double-gater," meaning she swung both ways. Because Hepburn was notoriously uninterested in engaging with the press, many of these relationships are rumored rather than documented.
- Photo: Bringing Up Baby / Warner Bros.
Hepburn Denied That She Was A Lesbian – Perhaps Because She Wasn't
Rumors of Hepburn's attraction to women didn't arise after her death or the publication of Scotty Bowers's memoir. They followed her throughout her life, forcing her to deny them publicly when asked. Yet, according to some, that denial was based on semantics – she reportedly believed that to be a "lesbian" meant a personal presentation of or attraction to "very butch women," which didn't necessarily describe her.
But there's more to it than that. Hepburn had documented relationships with men, too, and reportedly told Pandro S. Berman that she was not a lesbian, to which Berman replied, "'Perhaps you are not a lesbian. But you didn’t deny that you’re bisexual.’” We can't know for certain, but Hepburn's denial is specific – she reportedly said she was not a lesbian, not that she was not attracted to women.
- Photo: Little Women / RKO Radio Pictures
Most Of Hepburn's Relationships Were Said To Be Chaste
Despite rumors flying about her sex life, Hepburn was not known for being a particularly lusty person. Though Hollywood pimp Scotty Bowers claims he set her up with some 150 women, others claim that Hepburn was in fact quite chaste and found sex distasteful. A college friend reportedly said of Hepburn, "'She tried [sex] once and just didn't like it.'" She's also rumored to have walked out of films that contained nude scenes.
Though this might call into question Bowers's claims, it also paints an interesting picture of the woman. The desire for 150 women – which, Bowers points out in his New York Times interview, actually equates to around three women per year – could in part be about the companionship of like-minded women rather than purely sex.
- Photo: Woman Of The Year / Criterion Collection
Hepburn's Curious Relationship With Spencer Tracy Fueled Gossip
Hepburn's affair with Spencer Tracy is one of her most talked-about relationships. Tracy was married when they met - and would not divorce his wife because he was a devout Catholic - and he was also known as an alcoholic. Hepburn served as his companion and nursemaid for 26 years right up until his death. Despite her reputation for being snarky and tough, those who witnessed their exchanges claimed Hepburn softened in his presence.
- Photo: The Sea Of Grass / Warner Bros.
Hepburn And Tracy's Relationship Was Said To Cover Up Their Sexualities
Both Spencer Tracy and Hepburn were subject to rumors about their sexualities. While it's difficult to discern for certain because neither was open about their romantic affairs, biographers and historians have claimed that neither Hepburn nor Tracy – as well as plenty of other historical figures – were "straight". Author and connector Scotty Bowers himself claims that the relationship between Tracy and Hepburn was contrived for the press, and details a sexual encounter he himself had with Tracy in his book. Bowers claims the relationship between Hepburn and Tracy was entirely an invention, including Tracy's unwillingness to divorce his wife, and that Tracy actually found Hepburn to be cruel and contemptuous toward him, not kind and compassionate. According to Bowers, the romance was invented by their managers to keep their real sexualities hidden from the public eye.
- Photo: The Dick Cavett Show / Shout Factory
Hepburn's Reputation Was That Of A Strong-Willed Woman Who Refused To Be Like Others
Part of Hepburn's star status is her refusal to play by Hollywood's rules. Hepburn's mother was a famous suffragette, and while Hepburn herself advocated for birth control and was unashamedly a woman who loved her career, some prominent feminists found her claim that women could not have both a family and career distasteful. But that was all part of Hepburn's charm. She brought intelligence and her outspoken energy to Hollywood, even when it meant isolating herself. Yet Hepburn wasn't afraid to stand apart, being an early adopter of wearing trousers in a time when such things weren't acceptable. She paved the way for a lot of women, even if she herself wasn't interested in being a public figure.
- Photo: Love Affair / Warner Bros.
Hepburn Was Notoriously Reclusive
Hepburn, unlike many stars of the era, did not want to live her life in the public eye. While it's uncertain whether this was because of her sexuality or whether it was just that she didn't want to endure public scrutiny of her entire life, Hepburn was notorious for refusing interviews. She wasn't in Hollywood for the fame; she genuinely loved acting, so even when she was branded "box-office poison," she moved to Broadway and kept working on both stage and screen. She worked as an actress until 1994's One Christmas and Love Affair, nine years before her death in 2003. But Hepburn's life was never public. If writer Scotty Bowers's allegations about her relationship with Spencer Tracy are true, it means that even the relationship most widely publicized was one invented for Katharine Hepburn the character, not Katharine Hepburn the person.
