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Elvira actress, Cassandra Peterson on fans reaction to coming out: ‘Nobody was ready for that’

The actress came out in her memoir in September 2021 but has opened up about her worries of what her gay fans would think.

By Alastair James

Words: Alastair James; pictures: Vesper Los Angeles

Elvira actress, Cassandra Peterson, has revealed that her coming out “flipped everybody out” and that she was worried about her gay fan base’s reactions.

The Queen of the Macabre released her memoir Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark last September and included the revelation she’d been in a relationship with a woman for nearly 20 years. 

Speaking to the Behind the Velvet Rope podcast Elvira also revealed that she found herself in tears over writing the book and that sometimes it felt like pulling teeth.

“Nobody was ready for that.”

Reflecting on the process of writing she says: “It was good, it was bad, it was everything in between.” One of the things that “flipped everybody out” was her same-sex relationship with Teresa ‘T’ Wierson.

“Nobody was ready for that,” she adds. Clarifying that very close friends and family knew, Peterson goes on to say that some friends were “blown away,” by the news. 

Asked about whether she was more concerned about the reaction from her gay or straight fan base, Peterson says it was the former. “I hoped they embraced it but I was feeling ‘what if they think I’m a big fat hypocrite’ and I was lying to them.

“Here I was going ‘I love [the] LGBTQ community’ meanwhile I’m one of them and not saying anything about it.” Thankfully, a large part of her fans remained by her side, despite losing 11,000 followers on the day she went public with her relationship. 

But she goes on to say she knew there were going to be some “horny old men” who weren’t happy. However, laughing she adds, “they already didn’t have a chance with me anyway”. 

Ultimately she concludes that “I have to live my life,” while also conceding there was probably a homophobic element to some of the negative comments. 

On her partner’s reaction, Peterson reveals there was a discussion between them about coming out and they’d been wanting to do it “for a long time”. 

Reflecting on the changes since coming out Elvira says it’s nice going to a restaurant and being able to “Sit next to each other and not worry about ‘oh, is there somebody taking pictures of you?'”

The Attitude February issue is out now. 

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