Article 99

Richard Chamberlain is gay - Homosexual Mag's shocking charge against TV Casanova
(1990)

Miniseries Star Richard Chamberlain in a Rage Over News Stories Claiming He's Gay

TV superstar Richard Chamberlain is outraged over widespread news reports that have branded him gay!

The stories - which have appeared in the U.S., England and France - claim the 55- year-old bachelor's live-in friend, former ballet dancer Martin Rabbett, has been his male lover for the last 12 years.

But an angry Chamberlain denied the reports and fumed that "homosexual terrorists" are trying to destroy him.

The scandalous reports were launched when a French women's magazine called Nous Deux claimed the star of "Thorn Birds" and "Shogun" had told an interviewer:

"I've had enough with keeping up appearances. That's why I'm officially moving in with my lover Martin Rabbett. We've been lovers for the last 12 years. We're in the process of building a house by the sea, which will be our home. And too bad for those who don't like it!"

The London Sun newspaper and the TV show "AM Philadelphia" reported on the interview.

And so did gay publications across America.

"Richard Chamberlain Declares He's Gay" trumpeted Update in Los Angeles in early April. "Richard Chamberlain Comes Out" blared San Francisco's Bay Area Reporter. And Philadelphia's Au Courant called the confirmed bachelor "openly gay."

All three publications said Elizabeth Taylor - who heads the American Foundation for AIDS Research - was pleased Chamberlain had come out of the closet and hoped that other Hollywood stars would do the same.

They also claimed Chamberlain is donating 10 percent of his income to AIDS research because the disease had killed a former lover in 1986.

Nous Deux editor Catherine Auger told The Enquirer a free-lance writer did the interview with Chamberlain. She refused to identify the writer and said: "We stand by our story."

Richard Chamberlain rose to fame as TV's "Dr. Kildare" and went on to become king of the mini-series.

"Richard did not give the interview and he is not gay!" the actor's spokeswoman Annett Wolf told us.

"The story was printed January in Nous Deux, we contacted Richard and let him know about it. Now the interview is being reprinted here in the States - and it's upsetting that this keeps resurfacing."

The star's mom, Elsa Chamberlain, was angry enough to tell a reporter the stories had "no basis in truth at all."

But nobody is more upset than Chamberlain!

"I'm furious," Richard told a close pal. "I've obviously become a prime target for people who've branded me gay just because I'm a confirmed bachelor, live with a man and have always been extremely private about my personal life."

Although the actor had been publicly linked in the past with a string of beautiful women - including Linda Evans, star of "Dynasty," and actress Dixie Carter of "Designing Women" - rumours of homosexuality have hounded him in Hollywood throughout his career, say insiders.

For the last 10 years, he's been living with Martin Rabbett and the two are also planning to share a house they're renovating in Hawaii.

But pals say the relationship is strictly business: Rabbett is Chamberlain's assistant and he's even worked as an executive producer on the star's recently cancelled TV series "Island Son."

Chamberlain believes the reports are the work of gay activists who think that having celebrities admit they're gay will help get more sympathy for homosexuals with AIDS - and more money for AIDS research.

"I'm a victim of some kind of plot launched by militant gays who want to yank celebrities they think are gay out of the closet," Richard angrily told his close pal.

Chamberlain told a long-time friend, "I'm horrified by the whole thing. It's incredible that any publication can make these claims about me!"