10 Famous Bisexual People From Throughout History
Though bisexuality has seen much persecution and erasure throughout history, it wasn’t always a taboo. In Ancient Greece, for example, it was not uncommon for men to have extra-marital relations with other men, and in Japan, the practice of shudo between a samurai master and the young men they trained often involved a sexual relationship to create stronger bonds between them.[1] There are countless other cultures around the world that had different views toward sexuality and sex compared to the relatively Eurocentric ideals many are accustomed to.
But even when bisexuality was taboo, bisexual people still existed and still loved. Sometimes these were unknown, everyday people, and sometimes they were household names. This is a short list of some of those more famous examples.
Virginia Woolf
Known best for her contributions to literature and ahead-of-the-curve advocacy for women’s rights,[2] Virginia Woolf was also bisexual, if her passionate affair with Vita Sackville-West is any indication.[2][3][4] While married to Leonard Woolf, Virginia Woolf exchanged regular, intimate letters with openly bisexual aristocrat Vita.[3][4] Interestingly, both their husbands were aware of the affair and neither was overly concerned.[3][4] Vita’s husband was also bisexual and the pair had an open marriage, and Virginia’s husband reportedly found the whole affair boring and unconcerning.[4]
Josephine Baker
Born in Missouri in 1906 as Freda Josephine McDonald, Josephine Baker left the United States in the 1920s as a result of the racism she faced as a black performer.[3][5][6] In Paris, she achieved great success as a singer, dancer, and actress,[3][5][6] and during WWII she served France as a spy, delivering messages written in invisible ink on her music sheets and hiding refugees in her estate, the Château des Milandes.[3][5][6]
Baker had relationships with several men, including multiple marriages,[3][6] but is also well-known for her affairs with other women, especially other actresses and performers, despite being secretive about these relationships.[6] The most famous of these was her romance with Frida Kahlo, a highly successful self-taught artist from Mexico (who will also be appearing later on this list).[3][6]
Freddie Mercury
Like many people in this list, Freddie Mercury lived in an era when queerness was not accepted or well-represented in media.[7] As such, he avoided publicly labelling his sexuality in order to protect his very public career as a musician, being the lead singer of the rock bank Queen.[8] He dated several women during his life and was, for a time, engaged to Mary Austin[7][8] — even coming out to her as bisexual, though she asserted that he was gay instead.[7] He also dated men, including a hairdresser named Jim Hutton.[7][8] The two began dating in 1985, and stayed together until Mercury died of “bronchial pneumonia resulting from AIDS” in 1991.[8]
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was an Irish writer best known for his plays and one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray.[2][9] He was persecuted for homosexual acts, including a trial for gross indecency with men that resulted from secrets unveiled by a libel trial against the Marquess of Queensberry, the father of Lord Alfred Douglas, Wilde’s lover at the time.[9] The publicity of this trial has led many to assume he was gay, but it seems more likely that he was bisexual, given the love he showed and expressed for his wife, Constance.[3][9] He, along with about 50,000 other men, was pardoned in 2017 for convictions of homosexual acts under the Turing Law.[2]
Malcom X
Best known as a prominent figure in the American Civil Rights movement, there have long been rumours about Malcolm X’s sexuality.[2][3][10] Interviews with various friends and associates reported that he had relationships with men and women throughout his short life and was likely bisexual.[2][3][10] Some speculate that, had his life not been cut tragically short by assassination in 1965, he may have become a vocal advocate for the gay rights movement.[2]
Sir Alec Guinness
Sir Alec Guinness was not only secretive about his bisexuality, but expressed shame and self-loathing for it.[3][10][11] The actor, known for his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars trilogy,[3][10][11] was married to a woman but had several affairs with men.[3] His sexuality was alluded to in a speech by Sir Ian McKellen during a 2014 Pride gala in London, and was highlighted in a story run by the BBC a year after his death.[10][11]
Billie Holiday
Born in 1915 as Eleanora Fagan, this jazz singer found enormous and highly influential success under the stage name Billie Holiday.[12][13] One of her most famous songs is Strange Fruit, an anti-lynching song that she would sing as her final song of the night with the lights down except for a single spotlight on her face.[12] She was openly bisexual throughout her career, pursuing romances with men and women, including Broadway actress Tallulah Bankhead.[3][12][13] Her life was tragically cut short when the toll of addiction led to her hospitalization in 1959, which in turn led to The Federal Bureau of Narcotics “arrest[ing] her for narcotics, handcuff[ing] her to her deathbed, refus[ing] the methadone treatment she’d been receiving”.[12] She was just 44 when she died.[12][13]
Eleanor Roosevelt
Former First Lady and wife of Franklin Roosevelt, Eleanor Roosevelt made waves as a vocal activist.[2][3] She spoke out against her own husband’s policies by advocating for “civil rights for African and Asian Americans” and refugees of WWII.[2]
But more pertinent to this article is her relationship with Lorena Hickock, an openly gay reporter who worked for the Associated Press.[3] The two women were extremely close and exchanged letters almost daily.[2][3] Though there is debate as to whether or not their relationship was sexual, there’s no denying the emotional intimacy expressed in their letters.[2][3] Throughout these letters, they called each other “love”, “my dear”, and other endearments, along with frequent “I love you”s and similarly cherishing sentiments.(14)
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and a highly influential politician, lawyer, soldier, and writer.[15] He married and was very much in love with Eliza Schuyler,[2][15] but clearly had other interests — namely, with his close friend John Laurens.[2][15][16] The pair exchanged letters regularly.[2] Throughout these letters, Hamilton called Laurens “dear boy”, similar to how he referred to his wife as “dear girl” — and this, perhaps most notably, is not an endearment he used with other friends.[16] Their letters were also full of innuendo, including an invitation for Laurens to join Hamilton and his wife for a threesome.[15][16]
Frida Kahlo
Frida Kahlo, born Magdalena Carmen Frieda Kahlo y Calderón, is a renowned and entirely self-taught Mexican painter.[2][6][17] She began painting after a horrific bus crash left her bed ridden for months, and is best known for the dozens of self-portraits she painted.[6][17] She married fellow painter, Diego Rivera, and the two had a turbulent marriage filled with affairs on both sides. Kahlo had affairs with both men and women, including some of Rivera’s mistresses, and was openly bisexual.[6][17] One of her more famous affairs was with African American jazz musician Josephine Baker, seen earlier on this list.[2][6]
And there are more examples beyond this. Many beloved celebrities, past and present, were/are likely bisexual and closeted, not to mention all the unknown people history has forgotten. Knowing they have always existed — seeing this history stretch back to ancient Greece and far forward to Star Wars — reminds us that bisexual people always have been and always will be here.
References:
1) Soto, Joseph. 2017. “Bisexuality in History.” Outfront. Retrieved April 12, 2020 (https://www.outfrontmagazine.com/trending/culture/bisexuality-in-history/).
2) Sproule, Lauren. 2018. “Nine of the Most Iconic Bisexual Figures Throughout History.” Xtra. Retrieved April 12, 2020 (https://www.dailyxtra.com/nine-of-the-most-iconic-bisexual-historical-figures-throughout-history-115117).
3) Sargeant, Chloe. 2017. “13 Historical Figures Who Are Bisexual Icons.” SBS. Retrieved April 12, 2020 (https://www.sbs.com.au/topics/pride/agenda/article/2017/09/19/13-historical-figures-who-are-bisexual-icons).
4) Jones, Josh. 2016. “The Steamy Love Letters of Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West (1925–1929).” Open Culture. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (http://www.openculture.com/2016/07/the-steamy-love-letters-of-virginia-woolf-and-vita-sackville-west-1925-1929.html).
5) Goodman, Elyssa. 2019. “Remembering Josephine Baker, A Radical Bisexual Performer and Activist.” Them. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://www.them.us/story/josephine-baker-activism-history).
6) Nicole, Corinna. 2020. “When Frida Kahlo Set Her Eyes on Josephine Baker.” Owlcation. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://owlcation.com/humanities/When-Frida-Kahlo-Set-Her-Eyes-on-Josephine-Baker).
7) Kettler, Sara. 2019. “The Complicated Nature of Freddie Mercury’s Sexuality.” Biography. Retrieved April 15, 2020 (https://www.biography.com/news/freddie-mercury-sexuality).
8) Bi.org. “Freddie Mercury.” Retrieved April 15, 2020 (https://bi.org/en/famous-bi-people/freddie-mercury).
9) Bi.org. “Oscar Wilde.” Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://bi.org/en/famous-bi-people/oscar-wilde).
10) Thorpe, JR. 2015. “8 Famous People in History You Didn’t Realize Were Bisexual.” Bustle. Retrieved April 12, 2020 (https://www.bustle.com/articles/111515-8-famous-people-in-history-you-didnt-realize-were-bisexual).
11) Reid-Smith, Tris. 2014. “Star Wars Star was Self Loathing About Being Bisexual, says Ian McKellen.” Gay Star News. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://www.gaystarnews.com/article/alec-guinness-was-self-loathing-about-being-bisexual-says-ian-mckellen260614/).
12) Litten, Cassandra. 2019. “Queer Icon : Billie Holiday (1915–1959).” Sainte Magazine. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://sainte-magazine.com/queer-and-now/billie-holiday).
13) Bi.org. “Billie Holiday.” Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://bi.org/en/famous-bi-people/billie-holiday).
14) Upadhyaya, Kayla Kumari. 2016. “24 Very Gay Excerpts from Eleanor Roosevelt’s Love Letters with Lorena Hickock.” Autostraddle. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://www.autostraddle.com/24-very-gay-excerpts-from-eleanor-roosevelts-love-letters-with-lorena-hickok-346115/).
15) Binsted, Theo. 2019. “Alexander Hamilton’s Bisexuality.” Censor This! Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://ksscensorthis.com/5281/ae/alexander-hamiltons-bisexuality/).
16) Pham, Hien. 2016. “6 Reasons Alexander Hamilton and John Laurens are Totally Boyfriends.” The Odyssey Online. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://www.theodysseyonline.com/6-reasons-alexander-hamilton-john-laurens-totally-boyfriends).
17) Belge, Kathy. 2017. “Bisexual Painter Frida Kahlo.” Live About. Retrieved April 13, 2020 (https://www.liveabout.com/bisexual-painter-frida-kahlo-2170989).
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Originally published to Vocal in 2020.
