In addition to being one of Old Hollywood’s most renowned actresses, Katharine Hepburn
has also developed a posthumous reputation for being a bit of a forward-thinking sexual
libertine.
However, Katharine’s open-minded approach to human sexuality also came with many caveats,
leaving a complicated portrait of a woman whose sexual orientation many fans still don’t
quite understand.
Join Facts Verse as we attempt to explore why Katharine Hepburn hated nudity but loved
150 different women.
Fans of Old Hollywood lore are always curious to learn whatever tidbits they can about Hollywood’s
most iconic actors and actresses from back in the day.
Due to social taboos of the time, many Old Hollywood stars had to keep their sexual preferences
to themselves.
Because of this, rumors have persisted about the sexual orientation of many classic stars,
including Katharine Hepburn.
Katharine has been dead for nearly two decades, having passed away in 2003 at the age of 96.
Katharine lived a long and storied life, and much of that life was filled with secrets
that didn’t come out about the actress until after her passing.
One of the secrets that have come out about Katharine since her 2003 death has been that
she seemed to have preferred the romantic company of women over men.
This shocking revelation didn’t come as much of a surprise to many of Katharine’s
fans, as rumors had always persisted about the actress due to her numerous idiosyncrasies.
Katharine Hepburn was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on May 12, 1907.
At a young age, she was encouraged by her parents to always say what was on her mind,
leading her to have an incredibly voracious appetite for learning about and understanding
the world around her.
Katharine was a more curious child than many of her peers, which led her to develop quite
an intimidating intellect at a young age.
It was during her years attending Bryn Mawr College that Katharine first fell in love
with the art of acting.
This passion turned into a habit, and Katharine spent the latter half of the 1920s making
a name for herself both on and off Broadway.
These theatrical performances led to Katharine securing the role that would become her 1932
screen debut, working with noted homosexual director George Cukor on A Bill of Divorcement.
Katharine would go on to work with the acclaimed director again, and the role kick-started
a Hollywood career that lasted for over half of a century.
Though Katharine spent the last decade of her career with an emphasis on television
roles, she did have one last big-screen performance with her role in 1994’s Love Affair.
This final role proved a perfect goodbye for the esteemed Old Hollywood actress, with critics
and audiences noting that the aging actress had lost none of her flair or charm.
Over the course of Katharine’s career, she was nominated for twelve separate Academy
Awards, winning four of them.
From her early days onward, she became known for portraying characters that were headstrong
and intelligent.
During Katharine’s early days on the stage, she would often take on the role of men in
the productions that she was cast in.
In 1933, Katharine followed up her work with George Cukor by working with renowned lesbian
director Dorothy Arzner on the film Christopher Strong.
Katharine would later reunite with George Cukor for Sylvia Scarlett, a film that featured
a controversial same-sex kiss that Katharine shared with another of the film’s actresses.
While much was made back in the day of Katharine challenging the status quo in her work, it
has been revealed in the years since her death that Katharine mimicked much of these behaviors
when the cameras weren’t rolling.
The most shocking behaviors of Katharine weren’t revealed until after her death, but she was
still known for some idiosyncratic behaviors during even the earliest days of her career.
However, these idiosyncrasies seem incredibly tame in relation to celebrities nowadays and
speak more to the morals of the time than to Katharine’s own aberrancy.
Back in the day, Katharine was an early adopter of pants.
This may seem bizarre to audiences nowadays, but women wearing pants wasn’t always something
that was deemed socially acceptable.
Actresses back in the day were typically seen in fancy dresses, and Katherine instead opted
for traditional pants.
This made Katharine a bit of a trendsetter, but it also caused some mild controversy with
audiences.
Besides her early adoption of pants in opposition to feminine dresses, Katharine was also an
odd Old Hollywood celebrity who made the conscious decision to stay out of the headlines as much
as possible in any capacity.
Many Old Hollywood celebrities had secrets that they wanted to keep out of the public
eye, but most would at least consent to interviews.
Katharine chose to stay out of the public’s eye as much as possible, causing her to turn
down interviews and other press events seemingly sporadically.
Of course, it has since been revealed that Katharine perhaps had more to hide than many
of her peers did.
If you’re enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button to show your support!
As well, subscribe to the channel if you’d like to be among the first to know when more
Facts Verse videos are on their way!
Further substantiating the rumors that Katharine Hepburn may not have been exactly who she
claimed she was when it came to her sexual orientation was the fact that she was only
married once, and for a brief period of time.
As well, she never had any children during her 96 years of life.
Katharine’s first and only husband was a man by the name of Ludlow Ogden Smith.
The two were married in 1928, and divorced several years later, in 1934.
After Katharine’s divorce from her first and only husband, she was purported to have
been romantically involved with various other partners.
In addition to taking part in a relationship with Howard Hughes that became popular fodder
for the tabloids, Katharine also became involved in a romantic relationship with Spencer Tracy
that lasted until the actor’s 1967 death.
Katharine became involved with actor Spencer Tracy in 1941, and the two were apparently
together in a romantic capacity for two decades.
However, revelations made since Katherine’s death have called the truth about her and
Spencer’s romantic relationship into question.
Perhaps, the two were homosexuals that had entered into a public relationship in order
to hide in plain sight from the tabloids.
Spender Tracy died in 1967, and Katharine survived him for several decades before her
own death in 1996.
Many years after Katharine’s death, a man named Scotty Bowers came forward with some
shocking stories about interactions that he had taken part in with both Katharine and
Spencer during the days that they were reportedly together romantically.
According to Scotty, he worked as a pimp of sorts that would help set homosexual actors
and actresses up with discreet partners.
Homosexuality was frowned upon back in the days of Old Hollywood, and it was rare to
find anyone that was willing to be open about his or her sexual orientation.
Apparently, Scotty not only helped set up Katharine on dates with many, many women,
but he also helped set her supposed romantic partner up on dates with other men.
Scotty claims that he set both Katharine and Spencer up with hundreds of same-sex partners,
with Katharine herself having been set up on dates with over 150 women.
Of course, many have questioned Scotty’s stories given the fact that neither Katharine
nor Spencer is alive to defend themselves against or verify these accounts.
However, many have substantiated Scotty’s stories anecdotally, saying that he is a man
of repute with true Old Hollywood connections.
As well, his allegations make a lot of sense given the many idiosyncratic behaviors of
both Katharine and Spencer.
The reason that Scotty didn’t come out with the stories he has about Katharine and Spencer
earlier is that he was waiting until well after both parties had passed away.
It was his job to keep their secrets discreet while they were alive, but he now feels it’s
also his duty to allow the general public to know the truth about these two iconic Old
Hollywood stars.
Homosexuality may have been taboo back in the day, but the revelation of Katharine and
Spencer’s sexual orientations nowadays only makes them that much more endearing.
Perhaps, Scotty feels that sharing their stories will help bring the world towards a place
of greater tolerance.
Given that Katharine was said to have preferred the romantic companionship of women, one might
think that this means that the classic Old Hollywood starlet was completely open-minded
when it came to sexuality.
However, this isn’t entirely the case.
While Katharine did likely prefer the company of women, she wasn’t a very sexual person
in any capacity.
Katharine apparently had very little interest in sex, having only tried it a couple of times.
Apparently, she just didn’t think that the act was for her.
Not only was Katharine said to have had very little interest overall in the act of sex,
whether with women or men, but she was also said to have been a bit of a prude when it
came to nudity.
Katharine certainly wasn’t open to the idea of nudity in her own roles, but she also frowned
upon nudity in general.
It was said that Katharine would storm out of the theater if she saw a nude woman on
the screen, something that seems very strange when you consider that the actress was most
likely attracted to her own gender.
When all is said and done, Katharine’s sexuality was likely more complicated than anyone will
ever truly understand.
Over the course of her long and storied career, Katherine Hepburn appeared in many iconic
roles.
Comment down below to share what your favorite role from Katharine’s career is, or if you
were surprised to learn about the actress’s decidedly unique attitudes towards human sexuality,
especially given the times she came from.
As always, like this video to show your support, and subscribe and hit the notification bell
if you’d like to be among the first to know when more Facts Verse videos are on their
way!