What’s life like for Cassandra Peterson right now? “Unexpectedly fantastic and busy,” she tells Out in an interview during her “two-day vacation” from her packed schedule.
When the woman behind the beloved character of Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, decided to come out in September, the world took notice. “It’s been crazy,” Peterson says about the outpouring of love she’s received after opening up about her almost two-decade relationship with her partner, Teresa “T” Wierson, in her new memoir, Yours Cruelly, Elvira, which at the time of this interview ranked fourth on The New York Times best-seller list. “I think the book publishers are as surprised as I am.”
It’s far from the reaction the horror icon feared. When Peterson began her Hollywood career, being closeted was necessary for an entertainer’s survival. “I’m playing this sexy straight horndog woman, you know. If I was playing someone’s grandma, I don’t think people would care. But I’ve had friends who play straight male romantic leads whose careers [coming out] has ruined,” Peterson recalls, adding, “I have friends who said to me, ‘If you’re ever asked if T is your partner or if you’re with a woman, deny, deny, deny — don’t say anything if you want to keep your career going.’ So I just did.”
However, that denial took a toll. “I felt hypocritical.… It’s like, ‘Oh, yeah, be who you are, do it,’ and then meanwhile, I’m like sneaking around with my partner,” she says. After all, Peterson spent her entire life surrounded by queer people, from performing at a Colorado drag bar as a teen to doing live shows in the ’70s in queer meccas like San Francisco. She’s always counted gay men among her dearest friends.
“My best friends used to be in drama class with me. And I had no idea that they were gay men, but I thought, I love these boys. They never try to jump on me like all the other guys do and they’re fun. And I have a great time with them. And I feel safe,” Peterson shared in a prior interview with this writer. Per her former wishes, her friends kept the specifics of her relationship private. “My friends were totally supportive. And I’m happy to say that every last one of them obviously kept their mouths shut because nobody knew,” she says.
Thankfully, most of her fears were unfounded. The internet largely celebrated the news that Peterson had found love with a woman as a long-term partner. “It’s my dream come true. I really hoped that everybody would be accepting of it. I knew my fans would,” she says.
Still, not everyone was rejoicing. There are those who follow her just for “my cleavage — you know, older fans, mostly men — that I knew would not be happy about it. And that kind of did happen,” she says. “I was recently told on my social media that I had 11,000 people drop
