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This republished memoir by Liberace's ex-lover is the basis for the multi Emmy award-winning HBO tele-film (also available on dvd) starring Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott Thorson, and features a new afterword written by Scott Thorson.
Thorson, a teenaged dog-sitter, was only 18 when he met the flamboyant but closeted Liberace, and went on to become his chauffer/lover. When Thorson filed a suit against Liberace for wrongfully firing him in 1982, and demanded 'palimony', Liberace's carefully cultivated public image as a ''confirmed heterosexual bachelor'' came crumbling down. Originally published in the year after Liberace died of AIDs, Thorson's book was the first that spoke of Liberace's lifestyle, dispelling all the carefully constructed myths by the PR people and by the entertainer himself. He told about how Liberace's friends and employees jostled for position with the entertainer, how these cronies resented Scott's position with the famous star, and how they played their parts in masterminding his expulsion from the inner-circle.
During their time together, Thorson developed a great affection and love for Liberace; however, Liberace, ever the Svengali, went to extremes to remake Scott in his own image, with fancy clothes, jewelry, and plastic surgery, which proved to be Thorson's undoing. A life of excitement, mega-shopping sprees, expensive gifts and largesse, turned into one of isolation, betrayal and drug addiction. Thorson only settled his 4 year long lawsuit upon learning of Liberace's HIV, although he credits the end of his relationship with possibly having saved him from contracting the disease. While it would be easy to look upon this book as a celebrity trashing by a bitter lover, Thorson never stoops that low, maintaining great affection for Liberace, even as he dishes the dirt.
Paperback, 239 Pages, Orig. Publ. 1988, This Ed. Publ. 2013
Author: Scott Thorson (with Alex Thorleifson)