A new book on the life of Hollywood
legend Humphrey Bogart claims the star feared he might be gay.
According to Darwin Porter author of
Humphrey Bogart: The Making of a Legend due out next month,
Bogart considered taking his own life over fears he might be gay,
excerpts from the book published Sunday by the UK's Daily Mail
suggest.
The Casablanca star slept with
over 1,000 women, including Hollywood starlets Bette Davis, Jean
Harlow, Marlene Dietrich and Ingrid Bergman, and had three unhappy
marriages before he settled down with Lauren Bacall in 1945.
Despite an insatiable sexual appetite
for women, Bogart feared he might be gay.
According to Porter, Bogart's marriage
to film actress Mary Philips left him questioning his sexuality and
contemplating suicide.
“If only Mary didn't make it worse,”
Bogart reportedly told a friend. “When I can't perform she mocks
and ridicules me. I should have never married her.”
The book claims that the uncertainty
drove Bogart to consider thoughts of suicide. “But I never get
beyond the thinking stage. I just can't see myself taking a razor to
my throat,” he told a confidante.
Bogart died of cancer in 1957 at the
age of 57.