Photo: John Sciulli/Getty
Cassandra Petersonknows who her true fans are.
TheElvira: Mistress of the Darkstar, 70, revealed on Thursday’s episode of David Yontef’sBehind the Velvet Ropepodcastthat she lost 11,000 followers aftercoming outas a member of the LGBTQ community last year.
“I knew that there were 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. “And I hate to tell them they already didn’t have a chance with me anyway.”
She noted that she ultimately gained 60,000 followers afterrevealing her 19-year relationshipwith Teresa “T” Wierson, her former gym trainer, in her memoirYours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark. Still, Peterson has noticed the fallout.
Hachette
Peterson previously told PEOPLE it was “a little scary” but “very liberating and a real relief” opening up about her sexuality and relationship, noting that the response from the LGBTQ community “without exception, has been so supportive and sweet.”
RELATED VIDEO:PoseStar MJ Rodriguez Gets Candid About Nurturing a Character for LGBTQ+ Youth to Look Up To
“It’s been fantastic. Everybody is happy and thrilled about it,” she added. “I felt the strangest and most worried about my LGBTQ fans because I was thinking, ‘Are they going to think I’m a big hypocrite?’ And that I talk about coming out, being who you are, and then I’m hiding this gigantic secret.”
Peterson’s first book came 40 years after she debuted her iconic character Elvira, the vampire bombshell with a Valley girl inflection and a flair for innuendo. After a career that included being a teenage showgirl in Las Vegas, posing forHugh HefnerinPlayboyand appearing in a007movie, Peterson was ready to throw in the towel at age 30 before finding her calling as the Mistress of the Dark.
source: people.com
