SCOTT THORSON has passed away.... on August 16th...
SINCE I FIRST HONORED SCOTT THORSON AS MANTRESS OF THE MONTH, HIS LIFE HAD BEEN A ROLLER COASTER RIDE! Since the end of his relationship with the star Liberace (who died in 1987), he was a witness for the WONDERLAND MURDERS which was tied in with illegal drug dealers, got busted for illegal drugs, got financial help from unlikely but compassionate people, messed up again and spent years in prison, had worked on (and maybe published) another book, and outed himself as the lover of another famous person - MICHAEL JACKSON ! ***
I'll weave original posts that appeared here at MISTRESS MANIFESTO with the newer information.
SCOTT THORSON ! LIBERACE'S BOYTOY (original post)
January 23, 1959 – August 16, 2024
Google Images
Scott is on the left in his chauffer uniform when he was part of Liberace's show.
Ladies and Gentlemen! I've been meaning to include Kept Men in this blog, and recently I started thinking about Scott Thorson, who was involved with Liberace, the famous piano player and showman, whose clothing and outrageously rich life-style became as much a part of his act as his piano playing.
Scott wrote a book with co-author Alex Thorleifson back in 1988, called "Behind the Candelabra" and I decided to re-read it.
Scott was born in 1959, and he's still with us, last I heard living with a common law wife (in the book he stated that he is bisexual) and through the years he's been struggling with drug addiction, and I suspect some emotional problems.
A movie is going to be made from the book after all these years, starting Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Scott. I look forward to seeing this HBO production, because I always want to see what film makers do with a book which I found sincere and well written.
Let me tell you a little bit about Scott. I think you'll realize that though he was a Kept Man or Boytoy in a homosexual relationship with Liberace, he has much in common with many a Mistress / Mantress through history and today.
First, he came from a disadvantaged background. Scott's mom was mentally ill and as a result he lived in a number of foster homes, not all bad, his last being a happy situation. As a foster child he had to work doing odd jobs and he started earning what he could at the age of 10. His dream was to be a veterinarian. He met Liberace in 1977 and Liberace's oldest dog was ailing. As a couple and in the time they were together they would buy each other dogs and own more than two dozen.
Liberace was rich, famous, and powerful, and 40 years older than Scott, who was just 18 years old when they started. Within a month of their first meeting Liberace hired him but also made it clear sex and a very personal relationship was part of the bargain.
Scott left his foster home and moved in with Liberace with their primary residence being Vegas. He was to learn that Liberace, his family, and his management, all did whatever possible to hide the the entertainer's homosexuality. (Maybe Liberace's mom never figured it out. Everyone else did.)
Scott was a known secret among many.
Liberace had an active sex life and would die of AIDS, a disease that he did not get from Scott.
Scott's previous experience with relationships and sex was limited. He was not promiscuous, or into porn, and had not been a prostitute, but for a while he lived with an older gay brother in San Francisco and had teenage experiences.
Liberace would come to dominate Scott's life. In order to be with him almost constantly, to travel and be part of Liberace's life, Scott had very little freedom, and few friends his own age. Financially he had a salary and was part of the fabulous show. Like many a person Kept by someone much wealthier than themselves, Scott found himself on a low but livable salary because he was gifted with jewels, clothes, and much else beyond that salary.
To please Liberace, Scott had cosmetic surgery that included a chin implant, cheek bone implants, and a nose job. Liberace wanted him to look like a son.
He also lost a lot of weight to be more in Liberace's image and likeness. As a result of legal prescriptions given by the doctor who performed the surgery, he became a drug addict. He's had a long struggle with addiction since.
Scott displaced the previous protégé and would be displaced five years later himself.
Liberace talked adopting him and also supporting him for his lifetime.
When he found himself thrown out as the previous protégé had, he was confused and upset, and he sued. Scott himself says this was no "Palimony" case....
Aren't you interested in learning more about SCOTT THORSON?
VARIETY on SCOTT THORSON and NEW FOUR PART SERIES ON THE WONDERLAND MURDERS - BROADCAST DATE SEPTEMBER 8th.
Missy
*** We'll get into the Scott Thorson - Michael Jackson relationship later this month!
C 2012-2025 All Rights Reserved Including International and Internet Rights.
First published October 3, 2012
So here we are in 2025...
First, because I wanted to read it, I searched for a copy of Scott Thorson's second memoir, which I believe to be entitled Shattered Candelabra or Beyond the Candelabra. I was unable to find it and do not know if it was actually published or distributed. Perhaps he is still working on another book - one that includes a relationship he had with singer Michael Jackson.
In 2013, the film Behind the Candelabra aired in May. It was based on Thorson's memoir but from everything I read, he was pretty much drummed out of having any input on the film. That might well have been because he was a felon behind bars for a drug possession conviction that included charges of burglary and that went on from 2008 - 2012. Towards the end of his prison sentence Thorson was diagnosed with cancer. (I do not know what his medical condition is now but wonder if it was a misdiagnosis.)
I personally loved the film and have seen it three times. It brought Thorson and his story to the people. I thought the film attempted to be fair in showing both the positive and negative aspects of his relationship with Liberace, who had gone to extreme lengths to hide his homosexuality, but died of AIDS.
Thorson was in serious trouble again when he got out of prison but got caught using someone else's credit cards. He was given five years probation. At this time Dennis Hof, the then alive proprietor of the brothel called the Moonlight Bunny Ranch in Nevada, and some of the prostitutes there, pitched in and provided over a hundred thousand dollars in bail money to get Scott out of prison. What? Who? They only knew of him?
I was impressed!
It's my notion that, hearing of his story, knowing the ways of Vegas that most of us cannot, these Hof and some of his workers came forward because they understood that Thorson had been used up by Liberace and thrown to the street as a youth. Deserted, abandoned, and left fending for himself, after experiencing great wealth, but also accepting the control of his life - and even his face - by Liberace, Scott Thorson, who had been with the star from the age of 16 to 21 - I should say the underage of 16 - had not been educated for any career that could move him into a successful and self-sustaining life.
Thorson had sued Liberace after their relationship and did win some money, far less than he asked for, and not an amount that would keep him living at all close to the lavish lifestyle he had experienced. He was not well emotionally or psychologically and, like many others, he probably used drugs to feel better at first, then due to addiction.
Because of his drug addiction - though one report is that he was encouraged by Liberace to get involved - in 1981, he had come in contact with a violent and powerful drug dealer in the Hollywood Hills - and pulled into a quadruple murder investigation of The Wonderland Murders. (Wonderland is the name of the street where the drug dealer had a house, the center of his operations. This drug dealer also happened to be a club owner locally.) Thorson was not innocent when it came to drug dealing but was innocent of the murders. Thorson was been given a new name and put into a Federal witness protection program because of his testimony. At one point he got involved with some high profile televangelists.
Thorson's probation for lesser offences after all this required he stay off illegal drugs but he could not. Testing positive, being given chance after chance, he was arrested again and this time ordered to serve up to 20 years. He served seven and was let out in 2020.
To me Scott Thorson is a man whose life has been tremendously difficult and more than he could bear. And wherever he is at this moment, I sincerely hope he can turn it around.
I ask my readers this:
What happened when you were sixteen (or before you were twenty one and a legal adult in all ways) that effected your entire life? Where are you now because of it? How has it made you the person you are today?
Missy
C 2012-2025 All Rights Reserved Including International and Internet Rights.
Information about Scott Thorson's life comes from multiple and often repetitive news articles.
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