Cary Grant’s daughter denies gay rumours: ‘I saw a very straight male’

The daughter of legendary Hollywood actor Cary Grant has insisted that her father was not gay, contrary to decades of rumours.

Jennifer Grant, whom Cary Grant shared with his fourth wife Dyan Cannon, cleared up the longstanding gossip about her father in a new interview with Fox News, insisting that he was “very straight.”

“I suppose the [misconception about Grant] that comes to mind is the question of, ‘Was he straight? Was he gay?’” the 90210 actress told Fox on Sunday (10 December).

She continued: “When I wrote my book, I got hate mail saying, ‘Why aren’t you standing up for the fact that your father was homosexual? But the truth of the matter is, I never saw anything to indicate that.”

The vaudeville star, best known for films like An Affair To Remember, His Girl Friday, and North by Northwest, was married a total of five times before he died in 1986 aged 82.

He and Cannon welcomed Jennifer, his only child, in 1966 before divorcing just two years later.

Despite his many marriages to women, Grant was often plagued by rumours that he might be gay or bisexual.

That was partly down to Grant shacking up in a Malibu beach house with fellow actor Randolph Scott for 12 years on and off.

Later, a documentary called Women He’s Undressed (2015) alleged that Grant had been in a long-term relationship with famous costume designer Orry-Kelly.

Grant’s daughter insists that if her late father had been gay, bisexual or otherwise, she wouldn’t have cared, but she had seen no evidence to validate those rumours.

“Had he been homosexual, I absolutely would’ve stood up for it. He had gay friends and there’s just absolutely nothing to be ashamed of there,” said the actress.

“But I had to speak the truth, which was I saw a very straight male who watched women, was married to women, had me. 

“Did he have affairs earlier in life? Perhaps. I don’t know. I wasn’t there to see it. So, I think it might not be a common misconception, but it’s certainly a rumor out there.”

This isn’t the first time that Grant has shut down rumours about her father’s sexuality.

In an interview with The Guardian earlier this year, the Archie star said that her father’s “elegant masculinity” and style threw people off.

“I received hate mail saying that I was anti-gay, which couldn’t be further from the truth,” she told the paper.

“If you’re around your parents a lot, you see them in ways that almost no one else does. And I never saw a hint of that.

“I think I would have picked up on it – not that I would’ve cared. But I have to speak the truth of the matter: Dad was charming, and he had great friendships, but he wasn’t flirtatious with men.

“Perhaps earlier in his life he had an affair [with a man]. I’ll never know, but if he did, fantastic. I hope he enjoyed it.”