What Happens Next: A Gallimaufry

melancholic romantic comic cynic. bi & genderqueer. fantasy writer. sysrae on ao3.

futchbambi asked: Hi! I just finished reading Newman-O's, Cows, and Other Signs of Love and it was all kinds of awesome. But I do have one question: was Paul Newman really bi?

sampenning:

fozmeadows:

Thank you! I’m glad you liked the fic :)

As to your question about Newman: as best we can tell, yes, he was bisexual. Though he never outed himself, he was said to have had relationships with men during his life, and he was posthumously confirmed in this by Marlon Brando, also bisexual, who said of Newman:

“He never fooled me. Paul Newman had just as many on-location affairs as the rest of us, and he was just as bisexual as I was. But, where I was always getting caught with my pants down, he managed to do it in the dark.” 

Similarly, the story about the threeway with James Dean and Eartha Kitt is reported by Kitt herself, who described it as follows:

“I had both of them that afternoon, and I came to the conclusion that white boys are so delicious. That time back in my dance studio ranks as one of the most celestial experiences of my life. Those two beauties transported me to heaven. I never knew that lovemaking could be so beautiful.”

There is additional evidence that James Dean - whose sexuality has long been a subject of historical debate - also reported sleeping with Newman; however, such narratives are frequently elided from mainstream accounts of their lives. Whereas contemporary gossip about the relationships all these men had with women is disseminated in detail and held to be suggestive of their preferences, even when unproven - and despite the stigma of being openly gay or bisexual at the time - accounts of their relationships with men are seldom given as much weight, even when supported by first-hand statements to that effect.

The problem is that, in real life as in narrative, we tend to hold both queerness and queer relationships to a higher standard of proof than we do heterosexuality, which bias is compounded by the more recent - and, overwhelmingly, positive - trend in queer communities of striving not to assume anyone’s orientation, but to let them express their identity on their own terms. But when it comes to historical figures who, whatever their sexual preferences, were highly unlikely to state them for the record - and whose language was often very different to our own - there’s a need, in order to preserve and validate queer history, to make such distinctions retrospectively.

Thus: on the basis of the evidence, I feel confident in stating that Paul Newman - like Marlon Brando and James Dean - was indeed a bisexual man, and that more people should know about it.  

Thank you so much for answering my ask! Paul Newman has always been one of my favorite actors and just the idea that he could even possibly be bi had me jumping up and down in my seat. Your commentary and links were extremely interesting and now I’m in a daze because Paul Newman was most definitely bisexual and that’s just the best thing I’ve heard in a very long while. :)

So happy to help! It’s always amazing to discover something personally important about a figure who already meant a lot to you :) 

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