Very entertaining stories of homosexuals who were in and out of the closet. Mr. Hadleigh kept your interest throughout the book. I never wanted to put it down.

Wonderful fast reading and fascinating. Highly recommend this!

I'm always interested in learning about anything Hollywood and I did enjoy this book, but I would have liked a bit more context of the quotes regarding how the author set up the chapters.

Specifically, an intro and how Mr. Henleigh came about these quotes (interviews and/or research) and notes on conversations with different people about the people they discussed, would have been a lovely compliment to the numerous quotes listed. It would have been more sensory layered.

With that being said, this was a massive volume of information about the LGBTQ community that so many are not aware of.

Reading it, it broke my heart to know of so many within the entertainment industry who could not be and may not be able to freely live their lives and love whom they choose.

Books like this can help open so many people's eyes in a positive way.

I received a copy of this book for an honest review.

This was an interesting book of quotations.
It gave a unique perspective historically on the LBGTQ life and secrets of Hollywood.
I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book.

Filled with knowledge that most of the world did not know or understand throughout . A real eye opener to the world behind the curtain. I do wish you would add images to make the book more pleasing. It got tiring paging through quote after quote without Color and vibrance . With that, you could have a real gem here .

3.5 stars

Journalist Boze Hadleigh is the author of many books about LGBT culture, popular culture, and show business. Some of Hadleigh's best known titles are: Hollywood Lesbians; Broadway Babylon; Bette David Speaks; Hollywood Babble On: Stars Gossip About Other Stars; and Celebrity Feuds!: The Cattiest Rows, Spats, and Tiffs Ever Recorded.

In this book Hadleigh uses quotes from people in and around the LGBTQ+ community to illuminate the quandary - past and present - of homosexuals in show business. The book gave me a better understanding of the challenges faced by LGBTQ+ people who may have to choose between personal fulfillment and high profile jobs.

Hadleigh's book is largely quotes, and I'll follow that pattern in my review.

In his introduction, Hadleigh says: "Non-gays in the alleged heartland view gay characters on a screen and hear of openly gay performers and assume gays are now equal to heterosexuals in Hollywood. If only. There's still a long way to go."

Hadleigh believes that gay people in the public eye have a responsibility to come out - to be role models for homosexual youngsters. He stresses: "The LGBT+ movie star who earns millions per film does owe something to truth and integrity and to less fortunate (gay) people like them. For one thing, LGBT+ teens still kill themselves at several times the rate of straight teens. Much of that reflects a lack of positive gay role models."

Hadleigh suggests that Hollywood has a large proportion of homosexuals because, "As gay or lesbian children growing up in heterosexual households we learn to act early, out of self-preservation. A bigger proportion of us consider [becoming] professional actors, partly because we're good at it....also because - so we imagine - it's glamorous and fun."

The book is divided into four sections which, in total, provide a glimpse of what it's like to be gay and subject to intense scrutiny. I'll include a number of quotes from each chapter, but keep in mind that the narrative includes many more quotes, and is significantly more inclusive......as well as tantalizingly gossipy. 😃

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Chapter One: Playing the Game

Hadleigh writes: "From the start, acting has been considered more or less a game.....After all, actors pretend, and the words they speak usually aren't their own....Unfortunately the game may sooner or later exert pressure to conform and pander to the masses in the quest for greater success, adulation, and payment."

"Most gay celebrities spend their time and energy - with publicists as their partners in crime - trying to keep the masses from getting the right idea." - Truman Capote

"Marrying into the opposite sex convinces most of the public you're straight. Cary Grant did it five times. That made him five times more convincing to the average American. - semi-closeted columnist Liz Smith

"The big game is making money. In show business that justifies just about everything, including living a very distorted and fearful life. Once you come out, you lose the fear and can relax and be yourself." - Ellen Page (Juno)

"Most minorities have the shelter and protection of their families against the outside world of the cold or cruel majority. But gays are a minority within their own family....most runaway and homeless gay and lesbian teens didn't choose to leave home, they were kicked out." - Florence Henderson (The Brady Bunch)

"The irony is, in the old days there were no gay characters upon the screen. There are now, but if it's a major role, it's almost invariably enacted by a heterosexual - in Hollywood this is a requirement." - Sir John Gielgud

"Reiteration and familiarity make things and people and habits seem comfortable and acceptable. That's why the media has such a powerful effect. That's why for decades religious fundamentalists got government and media to ban mention and depiction of gay people in any medium." - novelist Gavin Lambert (Inside Daisy Clover)

"They rarely acknowledge British influence. Americans have no idea how many of their TV shows originated here....An adaptation of our long-running 'Are You Being Served?' never materialized, partly because of Mr. Humphries, the gay character - the U.S. wanted to drop him or turn him black. Couldn't leave him as he was, nor would it occur to them to have him be gay AND black." - UK casting director Ingrid Gibson

"As long as we have heterosexual males in charge of practically everything - politically, corporately, religiously, etc. - we will endure misogyny and homophobia. Don't count on them to change or evolve. We must change the system by replacing over half of them, because we, women of all sexualities plus gay men, are over half the population." - female producer J.D. Disalvatore

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Chapter 2: Out and Outing

Hadleigh writes: "Outing was born to expose hypocritical bigots - usually politicians, preachers, and sometimes actors - who were secretly gay but publicly anti-gay, who fostered homophobia, enacted anti-gay laws, etc. People have always been fascinated by who's secretly gay in showbiz and rumors, usually true, eventually made their way into print."

"Rumor has it that [a young bi-ish actor], in his bid for more leading man parts, to bolster his straight credentials, paid a couple of females to publicly claim he acted inappropriately with them, sexually. I hope this isn't a new trend. But men in Hollywood are just that desperate." - gay activist Donna Red Wing

"When you're in the closet you give away so many good and vital things. One thing you do keep is the fear of being ruined or blackmailed by almost anybody who finds out." Brandon Flynn (13 Reasons Why)

"Public figures are role models and have responsibilities. GLBTQ youth need role models. The rate of gay teen suicide is obscenely higher than for straight teens. Nobody should kill themselves out of shame and because gay stars are too cowardly or greedy to come out of the closet." - George Michael, after coming out

"In Hollywood women lose marketability and income when their sex appeal fades. Young, they can be sexually ambiguous. When they're older and want to remain leading ladies they require some opposite sex credentials. That's what started Kate Hepburn off with Spencer Tracey. But it still goes on. - female publicist Ronni Chasen

"I wrote my book because when I grew up there was no such book, and if mine could help just one kid out there who's secretly gay then it's worth it." Broadway icon Tommy Tune

"I hated being outed. There was no dignity in it, and it made me feel powerless. But living a life in the closet is worse." - the former Chastity, now Chaz, Bono

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Chapter 3: Loving in Private

Hadleigh writes: "The lifestyles of the rich and famous have always intrigued the public, but until the last several decades their private lives were mostly guarded, by themselves and the media."

Of course this necessitated hiding liaisons with same-sex partners.

"A very few, very expensive male escort services are reliable enough for the gay VIP. Even top politicians use these services.....including one Canadian prime minister and one California governor." - Dack Rambo (Dallas)

"The police know plenty about some stars' private lives but they don't tell unless a crime occurs." - Erich Segal, professor and novelist (Love Story)

"A few stars are so worried about publicity on them getting out or they're so afraid of AIDS that their computers are their whole sex lives. Other gay stars keep their sex-rated DVDs at the house of a friend or relative they really trust so in case they die sudden-like the incriminating stuff won't be found in their own homes. What a way to live, eh?" - publicist Paul Bloch

"The average public has no idea how ordinary a gay man can be. They aren't all hairdressers, decorators, actors, etc. Gays are in every profession, from garbage collectors and sports to whatever's the opposite of flamboyant." - openly gay actor Cheyenne Jackson (American Horror Story)

"I would love to be someone's lesbian crush." - Jane Fonda

"Heterosexual men are surprisingly insecure...forever trying to make boys grow up to be 'straight', mostly through sports, endlessly screening male-female kisses and pairing off males and females starting at about age four....The hetero Establishment seems clueless that hetero boys will become hetero men regardless and that gay boys will become gay men despite all the propaganda and sports and shaming." - Charles Nelson Reilly

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Chapter 4: Dishing in Public

"The first million-dollar check to fight AIDS was given by a Japanese philanthropist. The second by American magazine publisher Malcolm Forbes, who recruited Elizabeth Taylor [to host AIDS fundraisers], to cloak his true sexuality." - Richard Wherrett, founding director of the Sydney Theatre Company

"Show people are valued at a lower level than purely money people. Look at Jeffrey Epstein. Unlike most disgraced showbiz sexual abusers, straight or gay, as a level-three registered sex offender he remained socially acceptable, still mixing with VIPs in the arts, politics, film, and finance.....Had Epstein been gay, all the money in the world wouldn't have gotten him all those coveted invitations." - investment banker Ardavan Khodayari

"Here's how the press works. Cary Grant fathers his first and only child in his sixties. The press is ecstatic: jeez, what a man! The press doesn't question why Grant never had one in his twenties, or his thirties, his forties, or fifties. No, because it's all about hiding homosexuality and extolling heterosexuality." - openly gay ICM agent Ed Limato

"I feel sorrier for the black gay kids....it's more of a taboo than with the whites. I've read and I've heard mamas say they rather have a son in jail than a son that's a homosexual. So when you hear some black comic ripping gays apart it's really his way of saying he's not gay." - Charles Murphy (Eddie Murphy's brother)

"Too many gay men and lesbians - in fact too many women, period - retain some degree of internalized bigotry....of self-hate...from the propaganda everyone grew up with." - Dr. Ruth Westheimer

"It's time to live and let live." - Lynn Redgrave, daughter of a closeted gay actor

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It's clear that, though gay people are more accepted than they were in the past, there's still a ways to go. No one should be made to feel unwanted or embarrassed because of who they are.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author (Boze Hadleigh), and the publisher (Riverdale Avenue Books) for a copy of the book.

Surprising out thought-provoking and funny this was. Well known gay celebrities and their point of view of living and working in the spotlight. A great collection of stories with great insight in to being gay in today's world. To me, someone's sexual orientation is no different than the color of your skin. I have friends of all races and preferences. They are all people with feelings and deserve respect and love.

Well written and highly recommended.

Thank in advance to NetGalley, the publisher and author for an ARC on exchange for an honest review.

This is truly a groundbreaking book. It's a book filled with quotations about gay people, many made by people who are gay themselves. But it's not the "gay" element that makes this book unique. It's the real eye opening reality, the abuse, desperation, depression and hopelessness that many gay people experience now and experienced in even more desperate ways in the old Hollywood.
. And mind you, these are not kids out in the suburbs with prom date problems. They are the sons, daughters, industry people and stars themselves who have had to struggle with their own reality. You would think that with enough money and privilege these particular folks would be immune to the hatred, but not so.
Once forced to "fake it" for the cameras and the public, we've thankfully moved past that to a large degree. But read these quotes. You can't help but feel sorrow and sympathy for people caught in this social bind. Very good piece.

I absolutely loved Hadleigh's HOLLYWOOD GAYS and HOLLYWOOD LESBIANS books that collected assorted interviews had conducted with a number of stars and often promised that the interviews wouldn't see print until after their deaths. They're dishy, highly quotable and compulsively readable. A few years ago, he collected a book full of quotes concerning gays in Hollywood. It was called HOLLYWOOD BABBLE ON. He's now updated, expanded (and deleted a few) this book and now we have INSIDE THE HOLLYWOOD CLOSET.

This is the kind of book you'll read in one or two sittings because it's nothing but quotes (artfully arranged so that in most cases, you can see a clear line from one quotation to the next). I had a great time reading it and even learned new things (how is this the first time I've ever read that Mike Nichols was gay?).

But, of course, just because someone alleged something doesn't always mean it was true...even if that someone is Yvonne DeCarlo saying that Rock Hudson's lesbian wife backmailed him after their divorce. There's also a music legal executive at Paramount Pictures who says that not only did Jodie Fister and Kelly McGillis have an affair during the making of THE ACCUSED, but that McGillis was also having an affair with Whitney Houston at the same time. And Jodie punched Kelly in the jaw when she found out. TV director Jeffrey Hayden is just one of the many people outing Cary Grant. But, his assertion has a little more weight because Hayden is married to Grant's NORTH BY NORTHWEST co-star Eva Marie Saint. (Even George Burns has a quote about Grant being gay.) Arthur Laurents outs Paul Reubens; THE FRONT RUNNER author Patricia Nell Warren outs Paul Newman.

Dick Sargent (BEWITCHED's second Darren) remembers filming OPERATION PETTICOAT: "Whereas Cary Grant flirted with me, its director Blake Edwards, actually came on to me."

Judy Carne, of LAUGH-IN fame and first wife of Burt Reynolds: "You can't print tuis, but I think his battering me was frustration over his being say, AC/DC. Burt was definately drawn to men."

Oscar winner Claire Trevor says, "It's been revealed that Cary Grant beat his first wife, an actress who worked with Charlie Chaplin but gave up acting after marriage. Grant was very angry at having to marry, he was very involved with Randolph Scott, the real love of his life before, during and some say after all the wives."

Jack Larson (SUPERMAN's Jimmy Olson and longtime partner of director James Bridges): "And then there's the opposite of outing: inning. Like Robert Wagner alleging that he had an affair with older-woman costar Barbara Stanwyck in TITANIC."

I also liked...

Boy George's line "Stop asking permission from the straight world to be who we are. It has nothing to do with them."

Tallulah Bankhead's "Daddy warned me about men and alcohol. But he never said a thing about women and cocaine."

George Michael: "Tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic are ignorant and arch-conservative, which is redundant."

Stephen Fry: "The heterosexual majority has always demanded a 100-percent monopoly. Historically, our three Western religions have practiced the opposite of live and let live."

Groucho Marx: "Ever since they found out that Lassie was a boy, the public has believed the worst about Hollywood."

INSIDE THE HOLLYWOOD CLOSET is irresistible fun. You may have to take a few quotes with a grain of salt, but they sure are delectible!

3.5, rounded up.

My sincere thanks to Netgalley and Magnus/Riverdale Avenue Books for the pre-publication ARC in exchange for this honest review.

I've read a few of Hayleigh's previous books (including, I believe, his earlier one of which this is - more or less - an updated version) and they are always lots of gossipy fun, but also somewhat 'educational', in delineating the progress of LGBRQ+ people and issues, in Hollywood and beyond. In fact, the title is something of a misnomer here, in that a lot of it is NOT about either being closeted, nor strictly limited to Hollywood, as it covers people in other entertainment media (theatre, recording artists), and ranges to other lands as well, primarily the UK.

As with any such compendium of quotes, it's a hodgepodge - some of them sparkling and brilliant, others somewhat ho-hum. But it's always fun to have suspicions about the stars 'confirmed', even if it proves to be only gossip, and this does cover a wide-ranging gamut of celebrities - from the silent era to current favorites. Perhaps not essential, but a heck of a lot of fun.

Inside the pages of this fascinating chronological history of any and all of the beloved and trusted in Hollywood are tidbits and insights that have kept more than one scribe solvent. It is stuffed with insight into the bi, gay, and closeted , in front of and adjacent to the best and brightest in tinsel town. What sets this apart is the format, it consists of article segments,interviews and recollections of family members,agents, executives,writers and fellow actors. I admit I was amazed at the new information I found and nodded sagely at the wisdom forty years in and out of the closet has uncovered. Happy reading

This is a fairly quick read with lots and lots of quotes by and about Hollywood celebrities old and new. Hadleigh has a way of framing the quotes so even when he doesn't name names, you have a pretty good idea who he is talking about!

Beyond all the gossip and dish, there are a lot of thought-provoking quotes about Hollywood's perceptions of queer men and women and how living a life that is not true and honest is so destructive to one's spirit. 4 stars.

The author put together a great read with quotes from celebrities about the consequences and treatment received from those that are gay. As a straight woman, I enjoyed this book and found it to be informative.