New bombshell book reveals James Dean had to pay his disgruntled gay lover in exchange for his silence on their homoerotic affair [Video]

14:19 EST 15 Nov 2024, updated 16:35 EST 15 Nov 2024

James Dean was blackmailed into paying off a former lover just before his big break because he was terrified about being outed as gay.

A new book revealed that the movie legend paid $800 to Rogers Brackett in 1954, days before the East of Eden premiere, in an agreement that has remained secret for seven decades.

Dean handed over the money even though he thought that Brackett, an older, wealthy advertising executive, had sexually exploited him during their year-long affair.

According to author Jason Colavito, Dean was furious and snapped: ‘I didn’t know it was the w***e who paid – I thought it was the other way around.’

In Jimmy: The Secret Life of James Dean, which is out on Tuesday, Colavito writes that Dean’s reputation could have been destroyed as homophobia ran rampant in 1950’s America.

So he paid the equivalent of $14,500 today to avoid a ‘public scandal’ …