Elvira says ‘horny old men’ deserted her after she came out: ‘I worried more about my gay fans’
Elvira (aka Cassandra Peterson) performs in her ‘Elvira’s Sinema Seance’ show on 5 October 2013 at Knott’s Scary Farm in Buena Park, California. (Barry King/WireImage)
Elvira actor Cassandra Peterson has revealed some of her fandom – including “straight people” and “horny old men” – unfollowed her after she came out as queer.
Peterson, best-known as the Mistress of The Dark, came out as part of the LGBT+ community in September, revealing she has been in a relationship with a woman for almost 20 years.
Now, the horror goddess has opened up about the reaction to her coming out on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef.
Peterson said she felt her coming out “flipped everybody out”. She added: “Nobody was ready for that.”
She explained that she was concerned about how her LGBT+ fans would react to the news and worried that some might think she was a “big fat hypocrite” or even lying.
“Honestly, I worried more about my gay fan base,” she said. “Because I hope they embraced it, but I was feeling like: ‘What if they think I’m a big fat hypocrite, and I was lying to them?’”
In comparison, Peterson expected a bit of backlash from the straight Elvira fanbase, especially a segment of her fans who she described as “horny old men”.
“The straight people, I knew that there was going to be some horny old men out there who were just not going to like the fact that they didn’t have a chance with me anymore,” Peterson said, laughing.
She continued: “And I hate to tell them they already didn’t have a chance of me anyway.”
Peterson estimated she lost about 11,000 followers on the day news began circulating about her relationship.
“People just said” ‘Elvira, you lied to me. I don’t respect you anymore. Goodbye,’” she recalled.
But, proving love is stronger than hate, Peterson said she gained 60,000 new followers on the same day. She admitted it was a “funny” experience at the time, and she even threw a barb at fans hurt by the news.
“I know it was mostly straight, older guys who just felt lied to,” She said. “I don’t know – can’t please everybody!”
Elvira – aka Cassandra Peterson – attends Comic-Con International on 23 July 2016 in San Diego, California. (Getty/Matt Cowan)
In her memoir Yours Cruelly, Elvira, Peterson said that she felt a need to remain quiet about her relationship with Teresa ‘T’ Wierson out of fear it could have a negative effect on her career.
She wrote that she felt the “need to protect Elvira” and to “keep my career alive” because the Queen of the Macabre “always had a thing for men”. Peterson worried her fans would abandon her if she announced that she was “no longer living the ‘straight life’”.
But she ultimately wanted to live her truth openly and share her relationship with Wierson with the world. She described her partner as a “beautiful, androgynous creature” who appeared “like an angel” when she “needed someone most” in her life.
