I based our most recent podcast, “Rudolph Valentino, That Left Eye and More”, on the evidence presented by Ms. Jeanine Villalobos in her Phd dissertation and the research executed by Professor Aurelio Miccoli. I am not surprised to see reports from the two “Valentino was gay/bisexual cult” Facebook groups..of the usual and insidious demeaning of their work, grumblings about the podcast and citing the discoveries without accreditation. But I have to say I am blown away how the very subject of Rudolph Valentino's suffering from syphilis which he contracted from prostitutes and the ramifications of this ..is new information to so many people. Villalobos' dissertation has been out for almost a decade. Why was, and still is... this information so suppressed? This is important information; the illness he suffered from for fifteen years...which impacted so many aspects of his life and which could have contributed to his early death.
I am told that on “Mad About the Boy”, the very subject is shut down by administrator Eleanor Gribbin with a mocking of anyone who might believe such a thing. I remind her Valentino himself wrote about this illness in detail in letters which still exist today; letters Villalobos cited in her dissertation. Is Gribbin accusing Villalobos of faking those letters and more absurdly accusing Valentino of lying in the letters? This is outrageous and censorship.
I am told that on the other cult Facebook group, “We Never Forget”... the subject Villalobos brought forth was discussed minimally. Today I present my theory as to why this suppression of her work is law on those two cult groups.
It is because those letters to Bruno stand as definitive evidence Valentino was “Born That Way” and sexually attracted to women.
Of course I will come under more attack for daring to say the obvious but what else is new...No, I have never had a reason nor interest in proving I was right or wrong or in proving Valentino gay or not gay. Long ago, I set out to find an answer through documentation...to the prevalent question, "Was Valentino gay?'...and I discovered a hoax; a tremendous lie... but in my exposing this hoax I have been assaulted for over ten years of my life by being called “homophobic”. Here is a news flash for the “Valentino was gay/bisexual cult leaders”... it is not homophobic to say someone is not gay. Someone's truth is just that. And writing endless lies and fabrications will not change the facts.
Valentino was attracted to women, had sex with prostitutes who were women and paid a price and then wrote about it. How much more proof does there need to be? This subject is closed and has been by Valentino himself.
In writing this, the lyrics, “Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose”, come to my mind... because I guess by now I am free because I have been called “homophobic” a million times by the “Valentino was gay/bisexual cult leaders”. So one more time probably will not kill me. But this does not change my reality one bit. I am not homophobic.
I believe people are “Born that Way” as Lady Gaga sings, “There's nothing wrong with loving who you are...”. And a person's truth is a sacred truth and not open to “opinion”. It is tragic our culture is still so shockingly unaccepting and judgmental about homosexuality but even in my lifetime this has changed considerably and for the better. I have hope.
In this I expose the homophobic cult leaders as they wield the word, “homophobia” as their personal and frivolous weapon of choice to destroy critics. I expose their homophobia for attacking people calling them homophobic slurs... “fat lezzies”, “a man who wears a dress”, “fat lezzie who can't get a man”, “Padre Liberace” and worse. That is homophobia at its worst. And outing celebrities as gay just to sell bad books, based on innuendo is also the worst kind of homophobia; portraying homosexuality as titillating perpetuates antiquated and dangerous stereotypes. And in my opinion those two Facebook groups should be shut down for their obscene homophobia in this regard.
Valentino's letters to Bruno Pozzan are honest and key in the realization of actual evidence as to how he was born. They are not fantasy, trumped up innuendo and ridiculous lies about source materials never presented. These are written in Valentino's own handwriting and were brought forth by his family...letters in which he is admitting he had sex with women..with the “signorine”, the prostitutes... going with one woman and then the other. He writes, according to Villalobos, telling Bruno he was home sick from something he caught from the prostitutes, who were women. I think the subject is closed.
I have written about the censorship on those two groups many times. But isn't it obvious to anyone on those groups that we are blocked, banned from even participating in the conversations which are often about our work? Why are we banned? I believe it is because we refuse to bow before the altar of their homophobic ridden “Valentino was gay or bisexual” hoax. I have searched for decades for a shred of evidence to prove otherwise. None was found. Valentino's heterosexuality was remarkably unambiguous.
I have been hearing from people for years who have been banned from those groups for contesting the Valentino was gay/bisexual tenet. And in almost every case the person banned was called homophobic. That has been their effective strategy which sadly continues. I have been accused of being “obsessed” but what colossal projection is that?... when their rhetoric and their books, and I use that term loosely, are being churned out about “Valentino's Men” and are based on nothing but salacious homophobic lies and innuendo. Their own actions stand as living proof that they are the ones obsessed...as they censor away and enforce their fundamentalist doctrines on those two Facebook groups. Enough already. Everyone deserves their own truth be told and not have this aspect of their history contorted into fiction. Even Valentino.
The letters to Bruno put an end to this subject and I am happy the letter they tried to heave in the trash bin of Valentino history found us as it did. Incredibly, as I discuss in the podcast. In my opinion the “offing” of this precious letter stands as proof of the censorship on those groups and I hope the message reaches people that this takes place. Because God knows we are banned from saying a word there. When Renato requested to join “Mad About the Boy”, Simon Constable told him rudely to “Go Away” and threatened to report him to Facebook. For what? For asking to join in the discussions? Facts are facts and as Villalobos and Valentino himself presented it many years ago... it is not an “opinion”... it is fact...Valentino was having sex with women. Mystery solved.
The translation of Valentino's letter to Bruno which was rescued from the trash bin of Valentino history... and images of the actual letter are included in our book, Rudolph Valentino In English by Jeanne De Recqueville. Which is available here:
**And I add in closing that in my opinion the entire, "Valentino could have been bisexual" is an option for people to say to guarantee they won't be called homophobic, attacked and mercilessly so.
Said podcast can be heard here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QBbiUFWaoI
