Kitty Kelley
Kitty Kelley (born April 4, 1942) is an American author, journalist and biographer — famous for her tabloid-esque approach to biography writing. Her books are well-known for containing many embarrassing and sordid anecdotes about the people she profiles. Kelley will name some sources, conceals other if she feels it necessary, passes on some rumors and scotches some others. Like most muckrakers Kelley's truthfulness has been called into question. She has had the tables turned on her by George Carpozi, Jr. with his 1997 book Poison Pen. Her most famous biographies were of Frank Sinatra, Nancy Reagan, and the British Royal Family. One on the Bush family is due in 2004, after Labor Day. Less famous are her books on Elizabeth Taylor and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
His Way — Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra, the king of musical romance, bullied, used, and abused women, including his wife Mia Farrow. Mia's taking possession of him from the previous wife is covered in a nasty way . He was a first rate rake. Kelley considered him an egomaniac who thought he had everything to do with Kennedy's days of Camelot.
Nancy Reagan: the Unauthorized Biography — Insights into the Reagans
Christine Larson -- an onscreen femme fatale, Larson was one in real life as well when she dallied with the married Ronald Reagan-- was with Reagan in bed when Nancy was giving birth to Patti. Kitty Kelley's first insight into Reagan's character comes off bad: After the breakup of his marriage to Wyman and before he met Nancy, Reagan had an affair with starlet Jacqueline Park, later the mistress of Warner Bros. studio boss Jack Warner. According to Park, when she became pregnant; Reagan denied that the child was his and ended the affair. When questioned later Jacqueline Park admitted Kelley quoted her fairly accurately: “ … When I told him I was pregnant, he said he didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. He just ran out on me. …”
Using their advanced review copies of the book on April 1, 1991, the New York Times, the Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times investigated the rape claim on what was called The Battle of the Couch by Kelley, which described a date rape-like situation involving then 19 year old Selene Walters and 42 year old Reagan. Further, in the April 29, 1991, issue of People Magazine, Selene Walters said that Ronald Reagan raped her in 1952, confirming the basic version of the episode in Kelly's unauthorized biography of Nancy Reagan:
- " … Kelley's account of his late-night visit is essentially accurate, although he never forced his way into her apartment. I opened the door. Then it was the battle of the couch. I was fighting him. I didn't want him to make love to me. He's a very big man, and he just had his way. Date rape? No, God, no, that's Kelley's phrase. I didn't have a chance to have a date with him. … "
In their editor at large Jack Shafer's March 5, 1999 Slate article, Gipper the Ripper: - “… Ronald Reagan successfully stonewalled the Walters' story when the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times picked it up briefly in April 1991. And remember, this was three and a half years before his Alzheimer's disease diagnosis. The weekend the book was released, a reporter asked Reagan for a comment about it as he entered church. "I don't think a church would be the proper place to use the word I would have to use in discussing that," he said.
Kelley linked Nancy Reagan sexually with: Milton Berle, Yul Brynner, Clark Gable, Peter Lawford, Frank Sinatra, Spencer Tracy, and Mike Wallace. The last tryst with Sinatra supposedly occurred in the White House. Kelley talked about the astrologer, and Nancy's mean streak. She claimed abortions for Patti (who says as a pro-choice person she'd admit if true — but also understands that the tales are ones some of her mother's friends would share). Kelley implies that angry Hollywood wives of Nancy's era would use Milton Berle as a revenge tool.
The Royals
Most of information shared here was already known. An early chapter enlightens the Windsors' attempt to conceal their German connection and some of its more embarrassing ramifications. Kelley counts the many insanely rich present at Princess Elizabeth's wedding with wry amusement. She didn't add anything to the tale of Diana, Princess of Wales. The book hints that the missing 10 minutes of the infamous "Squidgy" tapes of amorous phone calls between Diana and James Gilbey were onanistic in nature.
The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty
The Family: The Real Story of the Bush Dynasty (ISBN 0385503245) was published on September 14, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 US Presidential election. The most salacious revelation in the book is the claim that George W. Bush snorted cocaine with his brothers at Camp David during his father's presidency. One of Kelley's sources was Neil Bush's ex-wife Sharon Bush, who has denied telling Kelley the story. Kelley claims that Sharon Bush told her the story in front of a witness and has recanted due to pressure from the Bush family. [1]