Elvira is out, proud, and relieved.
Cassandra Peterson, the beloved actress behind “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark,” opened up about being in a long-term relationship with a woman in her new memoir, which came out Tuesday.
In “Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark,” the 70-year-old horror hostess reveals that for the past 19 years she has been romantically involved with her former personal trainer, Teresa “T” Wierson.
Speaking publicly about her same-sex relationship for the first time was a “little scary” at first, as Peterson told People in an interview published Saturday. But it has also been “very liberating and a real relief” — especially the reaction from her LGBTQ fans.
Overall, the response has been “fantastic,” she said. “Everybody is happy and thrilled about it.”
But she said she was feeling “the strangest and most worried about my LGBTQ fans because I was thinking, ‘Are they going to think I’m a big hypocrite?’ And that I talk about coming out, being who you are, and then I’m hiding this gigantic secret.”
Thankfully, the gothic goddess quickly learned that she never had anything to worry about. Response from members of the LGBTQ community “without exception, has been so supportive and sweet.”
“I know they’re loyal and they love me, so I really shouldn’t have been afraid,” she said.
“It’s so much nicer to just be who you are and I mean, if I can’t be who I am by the age of 70, then, oh my God, I’m in big trouble, right? People keep saying, ‘Why now?’ And I say, ‘Because if not now, when? When I’m 100?'” she added.
