Just in time for Halloween, the spook queen herself, Cassandra Peterson, a.k.a. Elvira, has come out of the closet.
In her new memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira, released on September 21st, the Mistress of the Dark chronicles her journey to becoming the world’s most famous horror hostess. She also drops a major bombshell about her personal life: She has been in a relationship with a woman for the past 19 years.
Peterson recalls in her memoir how she met her partner, Teresa “T” Wierson, at Hollywood Gold’s Gym. When Peterson first ran into T, she actually mistook her for a man:
“Often, when I was doing my pre-workout warm-up on the treadmill, I couldn’t help noticing one particular trainer — tan, tattooed, and muscular — stalking across the gym floor, knit cap pulled so low over his long brown hair that it nearly covered his eyes. Dark and brooding, he gave off such intense energy that when he crossed the enormous gym floor, the waters parted and people stopped in their tracks to stare.”
The two eventually became friends, and T moved in with Peterson once Peterson’s 25-year marriage to her manager, Mark Pierson, ended. They were just friends until one fateful night after the two left a movie, and Peterson got the urge to kiss T. “I think I was even more surprised,” she writes. “What the hell was I doing? I’d never been interested in women as anything other than friends. I felt so confused. This just wasn’t me!”
“I was stunned that I’d been friends with her for so many years and never noticed our chemistry,” she continues. “I soon discovered that we connected sexually in a way I’d never experienced.”
The couple has now been together for almost 20 years. However, they kept their romance a secret to protect the Elvira brand, with Peterson fearing she’d be written off by fans as “not being what they expected” her to be. But she says she is now with someone who makes her feel “safe, blessed, and truly loved.”
Elivra’s popularity within the LGBTQ community has only grown throughout the years. She has become an iconic figure in the queer community ever since her hilarious big screen debut in 1988 with “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark”.
