There are often rumors about celebrities and other public figures that circulate in media circles — stories that never make it into print because the sourcing is thin, the claims are murky, or the legal risk is too high.
However, with enough time, that can change. Once the famous person at the center of the rumor has died and people start talking — often to biographers who later publish deep dives into the drama — those once-whispered secrets start to come out into the open. So, here are 10 of the juiciest, most scandalous secrets from the past that no one would’ve dared publish at the time:
Did a movie star secretly have sex with a half dozen teenage boys in her hotel room?
1.
It was no secret that Tallulah Bankhead — a stage and screen star famous for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Lifeboat — was, uh, sexually adventurous. She even described herself as being “as pure as the driven slush.” But while performing on London’s West End in 1928, she became the center of rumors that were shocking even for her: that the 26-year-old Bankhead was meeting Eton schoolboys at a nearby hotel for clandestine trysts. She was even said to have sneaked one boy out of the school in her car, hidden under a rug. Supposedly, when the headmaster got wind of it, he expelled six boys — including the son of a Lord.
This scandal in the making never rose beyond the whisper stage, but in 2000, the UK’s public record office released confidential files that confirmed it actually happened. According to the MI5, the UK’s domestic intelligence agency, Bankhead was “an extremely immoral woman” and had “indecent and unnatural practices” with the Eton schoolboys.
Has the USA already had a gay president?
2.
To this day, President James Buchanan is still the only lifelong bachelor ever elected to the White House. He didn’t have a wife, but he did have an intense relationship with Alabama senator (and later vice president) William Rufus King. The two men lived together in the 1830s and 1840s, attended social functions as a pair, and were so inseparable that political insiders nicknamed King “Miss Nancy.” And, when King was sent overseas as a diplomat in 1844, Buchanan wrote emotionally charged letters lamenting the loneliness of their separation and describing how empty his home felt without him. At the time, no newspaper dared to say anything about it outright, but the whispers circulated freely in political circles.
Was a massive Hollywood movie star secretly a secret Nazi agent?
3.
Errol Flynn was one of Hollywood’s biggest stars in the 1930s and ’40s, famous as the swashbuckling face of The Adventures of Robin Hood — and notorious for hard drinking and womanizing. But this rumor isn’t about that. It’s about claims that he may have secretly aided Nazi intelligence before and during World War II. The allegation surfaced in the early 1980s, when biographer Charles Higham published a book arguing that newly released FBI and State Department documents — obtained via the Freedom of Information Act — showed Flynn was buddies with a confirmed German agent, Austrian physician Hermann Erben.
Records suggested Erben began spying in the 1930s and continued through the war, and Higham claimed that during that time, Flynn assisted him in obtaining questionable travel documents. He even facilitated Erben’s getting into Spain during the Spanish Civil War, when Germany backed fascist forces. A retired military officer who interrogated Erben reportedly said Flynn’s pattern of help led him to the “natural conclusion” that Flynn knowingly aided espionage.
Did one of the greatest baseball players of all time kill a man on the side of the road?
4.
Ty Cobb was one of the greatest baseball players who ever lived, but he also earned a reputation as a violent, racist jerk. He once climbed into the stands and beat the hell out of a heckler who didn’t have a hand. When other fans pointed that out, he said, “I don’t care if he doesn’t have feet!” Do some reading on the man, and you’ll see he was a real piece of work. But there was also one rumor that followed him everywhere — that he’d killed a man when he was attacked by three men who were pretending their car had broken down. Despite the fact that Cobb had stopped to help them (was he being…nice?), and that you could say he did it in self-defense, people nonetheless were quick to say, “Yeah, Cobb is a jerk. He once killed a man!”
The rumor gained its sharpest teeth decades after Cobb’s playing days, when biographer Al Stump portrayed him as a barely restrained psychopath. The problem was that no police report, court record, or contemporary newspaper account ever surfaced to back up the claim that Cobb actually killed anyone. What did exist were plenty of real incidents — documented fights, arrests, and ugly behavior on and off the field — but no dead guy on the side of the road courtesy of the former all-time hit leader.
Did one of the biggest stars of early Hollywood get work done…long before it was the norm?
5.
Marlene Dietrich had one of the most iconic faces of early Hollywood, and over the years the rumor mill has suggested she underwent the knife to improve her appearance. This gossip is hard to prove or disprove today, especially as her reputation as an iconoclastic star turned recluse has become more legend than fact. What we do know is that she would give herself what could be described as DIY facelifts, pulling her hair back tight, yanking her skin back with tape or even needles concealed in her hairline. Yikes! Now on to the more “Who knows?” claims.
Today, many young actors have buccal fat removal to emphasize their cheekbones, and Dietrich may have done something similar. According to rumors, Dietrich had a dentist remove her molars to thin her face and draw attention to her cheekbones. There were also whispers that she was among the first to get rhinoplasty. (This would have been in the 1920s or ’30s, if true.) We’ll probably never know the truth, but one thing is certain — she is still one of Hollywood’s most unforgettable stars, however she managed it.
Did a major star of the 1930s and ’40s have electrolysis treatments to look more white?
6.
Rita Hayworth was one of Hollywood’s ultimate bombshells in the late 1930s and ’40s, but she struggled initially to land leading roles in part because studio execs felt her appearance didn’t conform closely enough to the era’s white, Eurocentric standards of beauty. Born Margarita Cansino to a Spanish father and an Irish-American mother, Hayworth’s rise to fame was accompanied by whispers in Hollywood that her famous face wasn’t quite as natural as audiences were led to believe.
Was the rumor true? According to multiple later biographies, Columbia Pictures did indeed quietly arrange for Hayworth to undergo years of painful electrolysis treatments to permanently raise and reshape her hairline. The process was reportedly so intense that it caused swelling, scarring, and frequent discomfort — all carefully hidden with makeup, lighting, and hairstyling. At the time, the change was rarely discussed outside industry whispers and beauty-column euphemisms. But decades later, film historians and biographers began documenting the extent of the cosmetic work, and how it was a sobering example of how Hollywood pressured actors of color to fit a narrowly defined, racially coded ideal of stardom.
Did a literary giant have a baby with his half-sister?
7.
In the early 1810s, Lord Byron was a wildly popular British poet with a scandalous personal life, but there was one rumor about him that was shocking even by his standards — that he had an incestuous relationship with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh. The allegation never appeared plainly in newspapers, but it circulated relentlessly in private letters, aristocratic drawing rooms, and literary gossip networks. The scandal intensified when Augusta gave birth to a daughter in 1814…making people wonder, IS THAT BYRON’S KID?!
Only a few months after the baby’s birth, Byron married Lady Noel Byron, perhaps — in part — to ward off suspicions. The marriage would last little more than a year, and Lady Byron would later tell writer Harriet Beecher Stowe she believed the rumors of incest between the half siblings were true.
Did a movie studio force a young star to get multiple abortions to maintain her virginal image?
8.
MGM Studios did their best to ensure that The Wizard of Oz star Judy Garland was seen as a virginal girl next door and, sadly, to maintain her carefully crafted public image, they exerted near-total control over her body, schedule, and personal life. Among the darkest whispers that circulated around the biz were claims that MGM pressured Garland into multiple secret abortions, including one when she was 19, newly married, and a few years later, following an alleged affair with star Tyrone Power.
At the time, nothing like this could be printed openly. However, in the decades after her death, multiple biographies and memoirs confirmed the abortion rumors via interviews with people close to Garland. When you look back at Judy Garland’s life — one which was full of mental health and physical health issues — it’s easy to see how the studio’s control of her had a terrible effect. MGM didn’t just insist on the abortions; they also gave a young Garland, who struggled with substance abuse in her life, uppers to get through long production days.
Did the author of one of the most beloved children’s books have a deeply troubling affection for young girls?
9.
Lewis Carroll, the 19th-century author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, probably would have found himself at the center of Epstein List rumors if he were alive today. Born Charles Dodgson, the writer was known to form close friendships with children, especially girls, and he took thousands of photographs of them, including ones that were nude or semi-nude. There was much gossip, too, during his lifetime (and after) about his relationship with Alice Liddell, the young girl who helped inspire Alice in Wonderland, and how he may have harbored inappropriate feelings for her.
In a 2015 BBC documentary, commentator Will Self even referred to Carroll as a “heavily repressed pedophile.” This wasn’t a new idea either. New York University professor Paul Schilder wrote in 1938, “We are reasonably sure that the little girls substitute for incestuous love objects.”
Was a US President a raging alcoholic?
10.
The life of Franklin Pierce, the 14th president of the United States (1853–1857), was pretty damn tragic. He lost three young sons, including his last surviving boy, who Pierce watched be crushed to death in a brutal train derailment just weeks before his inauguration. Considering that, it’s no surprise that he turned to the bottle, but the true extent of his heavy drinking was never acknowledged by the day’s mainstream media. He tended to the job’s daily requirements, but otherwise spent his time drinking…and drinking…and drinking.
Pierce would even pass out in the Senate chamber and need to be roused. Rumors spread, with a common joke alluding to his history as a brigadier general in the army, calling him a “hero of many a well-fought bottle.” Today, with social media, Pierce likely wouldn’t have lasted a month before being removed from office, but back then, the secret was kept, and he completed his term. He later died of cirrhosis of the liver.
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