Fan magazines took every chance to cover the story of the Gates and Hudson romance. From the detail of first meeting, to the first date to the romantic wedding.
Yet, there is more to the inside of their marriage that most people don’t know even the media. Gates even stated, ““The Rock Hudson you see on the screen is very romantic, but the Rock I lived with was not.”
People had known Rock Hudson as a perfect image of masculinity with that macho leading man look. He was the lead actor in the legendary film, “Giant and Pillow Talk” and the classic TV series, “McMillan and Wife”.
On the other hand, Phyllis Gates was a petite woman and very religious. She grew up on a 600-acre farm in Dawson, Minnesota. She worked as a secretary for Hollywood agent Henry Wilson, who happened to represent Hudson. That’s where they first met - in Wilson’s office.
Marriage
After going on dates, Hudson invited Gates to live with him in his two-bedroom Hollywood home in the hills above Sunset Boulevard.
Just a year after their first meeting, Hudson suggested marriage to Phyllis and had his proposal in his manager’s office. Phyllis, being unaware of the motive stated, “I was very much in love”, and believed that Hudson would be a wonderful husband. “He was charming, his career was red hot, he was gorgeous. How many women would have said no?” she even admitted.
Gates broke her silence
In a remarkable interview of Gates in 2011, she revealed shocking information about the true character of a Rock Hudson in real life.
First was the homosexuality of Hudson which Gates doesn’t know when she married him. Then follows the betrayal, because if Gates married Hudson out of true love, then Hudson did it as a front to hide his gayness. The last and the worst is husband had hurt Gates physically.
Moreover, Gates kept the secret for too long and only did the confidential interview 16 years after Hudson’s death from AIDS giving her husband the chance to appear like a loving partner and caring family man.
As what Mark Waldman, lawyer of Gates, stated after her death in January 2006, "She was a lovely, very dignified woman".
Hudson as a husband
Phyllis disclosed that Hudson became frustrated and violent because of the thought that he must hide his homosexuality. Then the rage led to Phyllis being beaten. “He hit me,’ Phyllis confessed. “Used me. Ignored me. He was moody. He was a spoiled child. This was the man I married.” she added
Phyllis also specified that Hudson had hit her twice and attempted to choke her. She recalled an incident in Rome, where Hudson hit her with a glass of wine due a burst of temper and when he slapped her in the face because she called one of his friends ‘fruitcake’.
Another confession from Phyllis is the frequent disappearance of Hudson in the middle of the night to be with his male friends, spending hours out and not even explaining. Phyllis also suffered emotional pain when Hudson restricted her to accompany him to film sets when she fell ill with infectious hepatitis.
It seems like a raving of a Fifties fan magazine was not significant spilling out, “When Day is Done - Heaven is Waiting” where a sweet declaration was quoted from Hudson saying, “When I count my blessings, my marriage tops the list.”
The Divorce
“I had to divorce Rock,” Phyllis told a Fifties fan magazine, after she filed for divorce in April 1958.
The divorce caused Phyllis to receive an alimony of $250 a week for ten years, as well as a psychiatrist visit for a year.
Phyllis remained living a single life and became an interior designer, and died in 2006 after years of battling with lung cancer.
Wise & Donahue PLC handles divorce cases creatively and with strong legal strategies. Call 410-280-2023 or visit us at 18 West Street, Annapolis, MD 21401.
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