Ryan O'Neal and Diana Ross: "She doesn't want to be black"

Berry Gordy used to tell her, "You're not too beautiful, but you have character in your face." Now, she was beautiful and able to attract handsome movie stars.

"He is an incredible lover, totally devoted to giving a woman pleasure," his ex-wife Joanna Moore said.

"What? Are you kidding me?" Ryan told Diana when she inquired about his playboy image. "It's just not true, Diana."

Because Diana was searching for business direction and simultaneously trying to seize control of her career, she wanted to be in the company of someone who could advise her.

When Diana discussed her problems concerning Berry Gordy and Motown with Ryan, he would listen carefully, and try to offer sound advice. "If I had what you make, I'd be rich forever," Ryan told Diana one day over a Beverly Hills lunch as he advised her on investments.

But, for the most part, Ryan O'Neal avoided serious discussions with Diana Ross. He wasn't particularly interested in her life—The Supremes, Lady Sings the Blues or show business. He had a movie to make.

One of Ryan O'Neal's former business associates recalled that Ryan thought Diana was "extremely spoiled. I think the main thing on his mind was The Bodyguard. He was determined to do this film with her because his movie career was very inconsistent at this time. He would do anything to get her to do this movie. I doubt that Ryan was interested in her as a woman. Ryan likes to control women. Diana was working against being controlled at this time."

But Ryan had told other friends that even though the film was what brought the two of them together, he soon found Diana to be a fascinating, exciting woman. He admired her determination and ambition, both traits that reminded him of Barbra. Also, Ryan never liked shrinking violets, and Diana certainly did not fall into that category.

Her insistence that all of her employees call her "Miss Ross" fascinated him; he thought he had seen it all when he was in Barbra Streisand's company. Ryan had said that even Barbra didn't insist upon being called "Miss Streisand," which absolutely amazed Diana.

Regardless of how he really felt about her, it is true that Ryan's film career had been inconsistent and he apparently could not get a commiment from Warners to release The Bodyguard unless he and John Boorman could get Diana to agree to star in it. The studio heads perceived the film as an interracial love story, the co-star would have to be black, and Diana was the biggest black female box office draw at the time

Diana wanted to take the relationship at a slow pace. After all, it was based on business. She would have one of her female assistants accompany her and Ryan on dates. "If anyone asks, you say he's your boyfriend,' she would instruct the employee. Perhaps an indication of how she at first felt about Ryan O'Neal came on the day he called her "Diane" in public, and she corrected him.

"Diana," she said with a gracious smile. "You can call me Diana." They were getting close— he was certainly closer to her than anyone who was supposed to call her "Miss Ross"—but Ryan O'Neal was not yet privileged enough to call her "Diane."

Diana finally read the treatment more carefully and discovered, much to her horror, that the film would include a nude scene. Diana decided then that she could not appear in it, but Ryan urged her to reconsider. He wined and dined her for the next few weeks showering her with affection and giving her expensive gifts.

She was, quite simply, swept off her feet; Diana Ross was falling in love. She thought that they were the most perfect couple the world had ever seen, and, indeed, they did look striking: he, muscular, blond and dashing; she, thin, dark and glamorous. Diana was said to be put off by Ryan's conceit but, she said in his defense, "nobody's perfect."

Diana's road manager Michael Browne told writer Diane Albright, "The man that she had picked to be her husband was Ryan O'Neal. She thought he was the man of her dreams, even though he really wasn't. He didn't have the kind of money she wanted in a man. But he was so damn good-looking, she couldn't resist him."

On March 26, 1979, Diana hosted her own 35th birthday party at her Beverly Hills home with guests including Tony Perkins, Gregory Peck and Tony Curtis. Diana's brother and sister, Chico and Rita, were also present. She greeted 50 guests in a James Galanos bare-shouldered black silk crepe gown, which she wore with a white jacket beaded with textured flowers and leaves. Her hair was slicked back into a bun. "She looked every inch the heiress to a throne," someone observed

In the middle of the party, Ryan took off his jacket and, in a tuxedo shirt and slacks, strutted onto the dance floor and broke into wild gyrations to the Sister Sledge song "The Greatest Dancer."

As everyone gathered around and applauded, Diana stood starry-eyed on the sidelines.

"Isn't he wonderful!" she said happily. "Don't you just love him?"

This was the first time some of her friends met Ryan O'Neal and he certainly made a positive impression on them. He was gorgeous and very physical with her, hugging and kissing her tenderly on the cheek, but never on the mouth. He had given Diana an amethyst ring with inset diamonds as a birthday present.

He was very fatherly toward Diana's three children. They sat on his lap. He told them stories and tried to keep them busy as mother flitted about being the gracious star hostess. Even Berry Gordy found him to be charming and witty. "Man's got the whitest damn teeth I ever seen in my life," Gordy said of O'Neal.

At this time, Diana and her children spent a couple of weeks with Ryan and his youngsters at the O'Neal family home in Malibu. The two of them would share picnics with their offspring on the beach in back of Ryan's house, and then a governess would herd Rhonda, Tracee, Chudney, and Ryan's children, Tatum and Griffin, back into the house.

Meanwhile their parents shared white wine and intimate moments on the sand. During this stay at the O'Neal home, Diana and Ryan attended a private party at Alice's Restaurant on the Malibu pier, and another partygoer claimed that "they were sitting very close together and gazing into each other's eyes . . . like they were hungering for each other." He said that later while they were having Ryan's car filled with gas, the two of them embraced and kissed "like lovesick teenagers right there at the gas station."

The only sour note in this duet came from Ryan's 15-year-old daughter Tatum who, it was said by friends of Ryan's, didn't like Diana Ross or anyone else her father ever dated.

Diana must have noticed that Tatum was spoiled. She got away with much more than her daughters ever did

The only sour note in this duet came from Ryan's 15-year-old daughter Tatum who, it was said by friends of Ryan's, didn't like Diana Ross or anyone else her father ever dated.

Diana must have noticed that Tatum was spoiled. She got away with much more than her daughters ever did. When one of Diana's friends at Motown told her the following story. After Tatum won the Oscar for her role in Paper Moon, Tatum left the private Beverly Hills school she was attending and was tutored at home. When Tatum announced to her friends that she was leaving, they stood up and applauded.

On April 5, 1979, Diana embarked on a six-week, 28-city concert tour of the United States.

On April 9, she took a break to fly into Los Angeles from Baltimore and be a presenter at the Academy Awards. Since she had to be at the Dorothy Chandler Music Center for rehearsals during the day and return there well before the 7:00 p.m. ceremonies began, Diana booked an expensive suite at the Bonaventure Hotel, not far from the Music Center. This way she could dress in leisure, and also, she told her staff, "You can watch the show from my suite and then I can get in touch with you people if I have a terrible emergency."

By 5:00 p.m., three members of Diana's staff milled about eating from the lavish buffet she had set up in the suite. She was pacing back and forth in her white silk James Galanos gown, upset because "someone" had forgotten to bring the matching wrap. One of her employees, Jeffrey Wilson, was supposed to pick up the tulle accessory from Galanos' offices in West Los Angeles and bring it to her so that the outfit would be complete.

She looked at the clock and swore under her breath. There was a knock at the door. One of her staff members answered it.

"It's Mr. O'Neal."

"Ryan," he corrected.

"Oh, it's you," Diana said.

"That's a hell of a hearty greeting. You certainly don't seem happy to see me."

"Oh, Ryan, don't talk that way." Diana put her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss on the cheek—there were employees watching so she had to be discreet. "I was expecting my wrap. He hasn't gotten here yet."

Ryan O'Neal consulted his watch. "It's still early." "But I'm so worried."

Ryan told her to do whatever it was she had to do, and offered to answer the door when her employee arrived.

"Let me make a phone call first." She dialed a number. It rang and rang. Her lips tightened. She slammed the receiver down. Ryan relaxed in his chair, watching her with amused eyes. She never ceased to make him smile. "She's just so silly sometimes," he would say

The others in the room acted as if they were glued to the television, when actually they were all hoping she wouldn't take her anger out on them.

Diana retreated into the bedroom and slammed the door, leaving Ryan with her staff.

There was a knock. "Will someone answer that?" Diana shouted from the bedroom.

"Well, look who's here!" Ryan's voice was jovial. "Come in, come in. Diana, it's Tatum! Just joking," he said, almost choking in a burst of laughter. "It's your wrap."

"Is it all right?" she called.

"Looks great to me. I'll bring it in."

"I better go," Jeffrey Wilson said, handing the wrap to Ryan.

"No, no. You wait here," Ryan insisted. After bringing the wrap into the bedroom, he returned to the employee. "You look like you could use a drink."

"Yeah, I probably could. But I better not. She'll kill me. I bet I'm in real trouble, anyway. When I saw how late it was getting, I took a chance and drove on the shoulder. I didn't know what was worse, getting a ticket or . . . or . . ."

"Or facing the wrath of Ross?" Ryan laughed. Wilson looked uncomfortable, but Diana's entrance saved him from having to answer.

"How do I look?" she asked. Wilson recalled that Ross posed in the bedroom door, wearing her white Galanos sheath with draped bodice and spaghetti straps. Her necklace and earrings were simple so as not to detract from the elaborate white-on-white embroidered straight skirt. The white tulle wrap was the perfect accessory against her bronze shoulders. Her hair was pulled straight back from her face.

"Ravishing! Sensational! Gorgeous!" Ryan pronounced. He knew all the words she needed to hear. "Almost too good to be true."

"How do I look?" she asked. Wilson recalled that Ross posed in the bedroom door, wearing her white Galanos sheath with draped bodice and spaghetti straps. Her necklace and earrings were simple so as not to detract from the elaborate white-on-white embroidered straight skirt. The white tulle wrap was the perfect accessory against her bronze shoulders. Her hair was pulled straight back from her face.

"Ravishing! Sensational! Gorgeous!" Ryan pronounced. He knew all the words she needed to hear. "Almost too good to be true."

"And you?" she asked the employee. "Do you think I look pretty?"

"Yes—Miss Ross," he said nervously. "You certainly do."

"Fine. You ride in the elevator with us then. Why were you late?"

Ryan clapped the employee on the shoulder. "You got here with the wrap. That's the important thing. Now, doesn't Diana look great. Tell her how good she looks."

Diana smiled and slicked back her hair with her hands. She took a small bottle of perfume from her purse and squirted it on her wrists.

"You look great, Miss Ross."

She ignored him.

"No, call her Diana," urged Ryan. "Diana. Di-an-ah."

"I ... I can't."

"Sure you can. She won't mind, will you, Diana?"

Diana turned around and faced Ryan. Her lips curved in that overpowering smile. Her eyes were hard as granite. She didn't say a word.

The elevator door opened. She hurried through the lobby, O'Neal at her heels, to her waiting limousine.

Recalled Jeffrey Wilson, "It was the longest elevator ride in my life."

As Ryan and the employee watched, the chauffeur opened the door and Diana got in. Ryan had decided he wasn't going to go with her to the ceremonies

Back in the suite, Ryan watched the television ceremony with Diana's staff. When Diana walked out onto the stage, he burst out laughing.

"Jesus! Look at that." Ryan laughed

Jeffrey Wilson sank deep into the couch.

Diana didn't have the wrap on

On April 19, when Diana Ross appeared at the Omni Theatre, Ryan showed up in Atlanta to see her, as well as Tatum, who was filming Little Darlings there. While there, Ryan and Diana attended a B.B. King concert.

"They were very close during the concert," said Alun Vonyillius, general manager of the hall at which King was appearing. "They joined King on stage for his encore. Diana did a lot of prancing around with Ryan, who was playing the tambourine."

Proof that she's a fucking bitch and he's an asshole. They were perfect for each other!

By this time, The National Enquirer had learned of the romance between Ryan and Diana and featured the two of them on the cover of its May 29, 1979, issue. The story indicated that they were desperately trying to keep the "hot and heavy" romance a secret "for fear that their interracial love affair will hurt their careers."

That didn't seem likely considering the fact that Diana's former husband was white. If Ryan O'Neal did not want to be seen in public with her, she probably would have dropped him.

After another month with her, Ryan O'Neal realized that Diana Ross is as temperamental as she is determined. He admired her ambition but disliked her emotional outbursts.

As he watched the way she handled her life and business—the constant chaos that swirled around her, not to mention the stormy mood swings that have become so much a part of the Ross mystique—Ryan was becoming less enchanted with her.

This is ironic, since O'Neal is not known in Hollywood as being a particularly easygoing person himself.

It was becoming apparent to anyone who cared to watch that Ryan O'Neal considered himself a free man. During this time, he had a one-week affair with Margaret Trudeau.

Finally, the moment of reckoning had arrived. Ryan had to have an answer from Diana about the movie. John Boorman flew to New York to meet with her to get her final decision. The meeting did not go well.

R10 I don't think Ryan was asshole with Diana, he just put Diana in her place with her annoying diva act.

There's that cosmetics company meeting, she was either gonna represent them, or have her own line. You know, you have to sell cosmetics based on skin tones. The reps said Miss Ross, here are our black (or persons of color) tones, which do you like. She got up and left. Miss Ross? Miss Ross? Hahaha Flo loved Light Egyptian, (get me my Light EGYPTian! she would say) and for Mary it was Brown Baby.

Finally, the moment of reckoning had arrived. Ryan had to have an answer from Diana about the movie. John Boorman flew to New York to meet with her to get her final decision. The meeting did not go well.

Diana, understandably, did not want to make the wrong decision now that she had seized so much control. The Wiz, her idea, was a mistake in many ways and she didn't want to follow it with another one.

She wasn't certain that she liked the treatment to The Bodyguard and told Boorman that she didn't understand the need for all of the violence and bad language. She also would not do the nude scene, didn't want to sing in the film, and wasn't happy with the title because it emphasized Ryan's character and not her own. In other words, she was going to pass on The Bodyguard.

Boorman realized that the movie would never be made and reported as much to John Calley of Warners. Calley begged Boorman to fly to Los Angeles and discuss a plan to convince Diana to do the movie. As much as they tried, that's how much she was determined that her mind was made up.

Ryan was not able to change her mind about the film, "but he must have talked her into something because they are still steammmmm-meeee" reported gossip columnist Suzy.

Suzy apparently misread the smoke signals. Ryan was upset— maybe only because Diana took months to decide and then said no. He was tired of Diana Ross now. He wanted out. But Diana has never accepted rejection of any kind, at least not without a fight.

Ryan was upset— maybe only because Diana took months to decide and then said no. He was tired of Diana Ross now. He wanted out.

But Diana has never accepted rejection of any kind, at least not without a fight. She had six months invested in this relationship and decided to pursue Ryan when she returned to Los Angeles.

She wanted to convince him that there was more to their romance than just a film. Or perhaps there's a simpler explanation: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

"She would call him and pester him from my shop while she was having her hair done," said her hairdresser Eddie Carroll. "Apparently, he would instruct his secretary to tell Diana that he wasn't at home. She would hang up the phone so hard I was afraid she'd break the receiver.

One day, she went to the beach house in Malibu, barged in and started screaming at Ryan. 'You sonofabitch, you! I'm calling you and you're ignoring me? How dare you!'

Her feelings were hurt. She was pursuing him, and didn't care who knew it.

Certainly everyone working in my shop knew it. But the guy had cut her loose and that was the end of it."

One day, she went to the beach house in Malibu, barged in and started screaming at Ryan. 'You sonofabitch, you! I'm calling you and you're ignoring me? How dare you!'

Her feelings were hurt. She was pursuing him, and didn't care who knew it. Certainly everyone working in my shop knew it. But the guy had cut her loose and that was the end of it."

Diana was never able to understand why Ryan O'Neal ended the romance. "She thought she had him tied down," observed assistant road manager Michael Browne, "and when she found that not to be true, she was absolutely miffed.

She wore the amethyst ring for years after Ryan O'Neal was out of her life. But because of what happened with O'Neal, she decided the hell with beauty. Next time, she'll go for money."

Ryan O'Neal started romancing Lee Majors' ex-wife, Farrah Fawcett, after ending his affair with Diana and is still with Farrah today.

How Farrah managed to settle him down, nobody knows, but suffice it to say that pinning down Ryan O’Neal would be a deed in the same league as drinking the Atlantic Ocean, eating Mount Everest, and getting Sir Geoffrey Howe to say something funny.

Ryan put the romance with Diana in perspective in when he said, "All of a sudden she didn't want to play a woman guarded by a white bodyguard because Diana Ross doesn't want to show her body, doesn't want to do sex scenes on the screen, doesn't want to sing, and doesn't want to be black," he concluded. "As you can see, we are obviously no longer an item."

OP Why are you so obsessed with Ryan O’Neal? He’s an old man now and all this stuff is ancient history.

R17 I'm not obsessed!

Crazy story.

Ryan O'Neal on Diana Ross

From Both of Us: My Life with Farrah book by Ryan O'Neal:

It seems drama follows Farrah and me almost everywhere we go during that summer of 1982 in New York. One afternoon we’re walking past the Russian Tea Room near Carnegie Hall, on Fifty-seventh Street, and a producer I know, Lester Persky, comes out of the restaurant, insisting that Farrah and I join him for tea.

We agree to join him, and when we get to the table, the last person in the world I would want to see is sitting there: Diana Ross.

We had a brief fling years earlier and unfortunately things did not end smoothly. The moment Diana spots us she bursts into tears and runs into the ladies’ room. And she doesn’t come out.

Farrah is sympathetic and I don’t have to explain. Farrah and I had had that conversation.She’d asked around about me. She was neither shocked nor surprised that there had been beautiful women in my life before her and a few hearts were broken.

“I never expected you to be celibate,” Farrah said. “That would have shocked me. But I sure was relieved to learn you have a reputation for never cheating. I can’t tell you who told me. She’s a good friend of yours. She said not to worry. And I trust her.” To this day, I don’t know who my fairy godmother was.

Long before I met Farrah, Diana Ross and I were signed_ to costar in The Bodyguard. John Boorman, who made Deliverance , was the director. Diana was difficult and opinionated.

All she did was complain about the script. We went through three screenplays. It would have been one thing if none of the scripts were good, but they were excellent.

I eventually got fed up with her imperiousness and we never did do the picture. More than a decade later it would be made into a box office smash with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

And yes, Diana and I did have a brief fling during preproduction for the film. But she killed whatever spark there was between us when she put on her diva act.

I remember taking her to the airport one day. I had a Rolls-Royce at the time, and we ran out of gas. I made her help me push the car to a gas station. I thought that was funny, this big star pushing a Rolls-Royce down Century Boulevard, cars whizzing past us. She didn’t.

R17 This is DL my dear, we talk about many old celebrities, dead and older than Ryan O'Neal.

Diana Ross with her Huge ego didn't imagine any man could dump her.

R21 And post multiple threads/day about these many old celebrities?

Andy Warhol on Diana Ross in his diaries, commenting she didn't want to look too black:

Thursday, September 21, 1978—Los Angeles

Then Diana Ross came out looking really lovely. Thrilled to see me, kissed me. Then she went on stage. She had a shot of brandy in her coffee before she went on.

We were sitting in the seventh row. Universal Amphitheater. A plane went over with lights on it that said, “Welcome to my show.” Laser beams on the stage. She came out of a big screen, down an elegant staircase. She told me she got the whole idea for her show from the Interview photo of guys carrying her down a staircase.

Diana didn’t say she liked her cover and I just know it’s because it made her look too black. At the end of the show she did a Wiz number and she apologized for the music being too slow, and said, “Forgive me, audience,” which she didn’t have to say because no one knew the difference.

Afterwards, backstage, Diana started to cry. She wanted to have another rehearsal tomorrow. Then Berry Gordy and Diana had a fight, he told her he wasn’t going to spend the money on another rehearsal. Diana wanted Sue to take her side, but Sue said it wasn’t her area and then she said to me, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

R23 There will be mare, Brace yourself or put me on ignore.

R25 here I meant "More"

Tatum talks about Diana Ross:

He and Diana Ross were slated to do a movie together called The Bodyguard .They began having an affair.

"Tatum, hi,"Diana would say, in a very sweet voice. "Is your daddy home?"Whenever she called—which was often—I was supposed to lie and say that he was out. That made me feel terrible because she seemed so nice. She wasn't hanging around the house, so I didn't actually meet her until the late 1970s, when she came with my father to the set of my next movie, Little Darlings.

So Diana Ross's visits to the set were a highlight. She was like a queen—and very much in love with my father. She even wanted to marry him. He claimed that he didn't like her because she would never let him see her without makeup. He cruelly mistreated her, and eventually they split up.

Of course, Tatum didn't mention any good time between her father/Diana Ross, or the fact that she didn't like Diana , or Diana's diva difficult behavior. I'm sure Ryan told her about it.

All Tatum focused on was the negative side of the story regarding her father.

This has Nothing to do with Ryan O'Neal But I find the part about Diana Ross and Gene Simmons from the book interesting so I'm gonna post it:

Diana Ross and Gene Simmons:

Diana Ross has never had many female friends. She's said that she's never felt a need to have girlfriends in show business. This attitude may be a holdover from the days when Berry Gordy used to discourage her from having such relationships. Once, when asked about her idol, Barbra Streisand, she had to admit that she had only admired her from afar because Barbra gives the impression of "being untouchable." The two of them have been at the same cocktail parties, but have only made eye contact and have never had a full conversation

Diana also claimed to have a close friendship with Cher. "I can be close with her and talk with her and it's straight. There's no shit. She calls you dirty names ... a terrific lady," Diana had said in 1976. Cher is always honest and frank and seems completely unaffected by her success. Cher was also fun and fearless, which Diana liked about her. She and Diana were complete opposites.

Diana and Cher would swap secrets about baby nurses and the problems they had raising children and maintaining their careers.

Back in August 1979, Cher hosted a surprise birthday party for her latest boyfriend, rock star Gene Simmons. "I'm just crazy about Cher," Gene said at the time, "just nuts about her. She's my first love." At the party, Cher introduced Diana to Gene. Diana found him fascinating. He was intelligent and, to her way of thinking, extremely sexy.

In May 1980, Cher celebrated her 34th birthday. As Cher tells it, Gene was undecided about what kind of birthday gift he should buy for her, and she suggested he take Diana along.

"She knows what I like," Cher said.

Soon Diana and Gene were romantically involved. With commendable restraint, Cher made no public comments.

Diana insisted that Cher and Gene had already ended their relationship when she became involved with him, and that her friendship with Cher didn't suffer as a result of what had happened. "I can call her up and complain to her when I think Gene is being ridiculous," she said. Apparently, Cher didn't hold any grudge. She paid Gene special thanks on an album she released at that time, crediting him with helping switch her over from disco to rock V roll. It didn't take her any time at all to find a new boyfriend, Les Dudak, another rock musician.

"What's wrong with swapping boyfriends?" Cher asked writer George Haddad-Garcia. "After I've found out what a man is like . . . why not let another girl have him."

Diana's romance with Cher's hand-me-down, who is five years her junior, proved tumultuous. It lasted off and on for about three years.

Simmons is a member of the shock/rock group Kiss, which, at the time, was known for its bizarre stage make-up. On stage, he dressed like a fire-breathing, vampire-costumed ghoul and was known for the way he would lap his snake-like tongue at his audiences. ("My tongue is long enough to make your girlfriend leave you and come with me," he once told a reporter.) He wore 12-inch-high platform boots, each shaped like a demon's mouth complete with bladed teeth.

.Gene Simmons was born in Haifa, Israel. "What a nice Jewish boy he is," observed Diana

Simmons is also a brilliant and confident businessman and rock 'n' roll merchandiser. Diana said she admired the way he was able to pinpoint any problem and deal with it.

She would confide in Gene regarding her problems at Motown, and he would always offer the same advice: "Get the hell away from there. What are you nuts?" He acted as though he didn't think she was particularly bright, or strong-minded.

Even though Simmons didn't have as much money as she had, Diana was hopelessly attracted to him. Dating Simmons could not have helped Diana's image.

He is extremely sexist, considers women to be nothing more than objects, and is known for his scrapbooks containing pictures of over 3,000 women with whom he says he's had sex. He enjoys taking pictures of them in the act with his SX70 camera; it's become part of the lovemak-ing ritual. "If one goes hunting and never takes a picture of the trophy, what good is it?" he's asked

By now, Berry Gordy must have realized that Diana was dating some of these men partly to defy him. "I don't even care anymore," he had said. "I don't care who she makes a fool of herself over. I've just had it with her."

Most people at Motown felt that Gene Simmons—a man who once said he wanted his epitaph to read "What are you doing tonight?"— was not the right fellow for Diana Ross.

"But he is completely different in private life," she insisted. "He is so gentle. Not at all like the monster he looks like on stage." The more she heard of the company's outrage, the deeper she threw herself into the relationship.

Diana was determined to keep her affair with Simmons out of the public eye. One wonders how Simmons felt about this because when he was dating Cher, he got a lot of mileage out of it, and even a People magazine cover. But there was nary a word in the press about the blossoming Ross/Simmons affair, and certainly no cover stories.

Diana was friendly with Victoria Principal at that time and was never able to understand how Victoria could accept so much press coverage about her relationship with singer Andy Gibb, who was quite a few years younger.

One day, Diana sat in her office with a secretary, reading a magazine feature about Principal and Gibb. "Hmmm, oh, that Vicky, she just loves those little boys!" she said, laughing. "But why must she let everyone know it?"

Soon, though. Gene was said to have convinced Diana that his affair with Cher did nothing to hurt her (Cher's) career, so why the big secret? Eventually, Diana became more open about the romance.

"Gene was staying at her Beverly Hills home while Diana was in New York. It was said around the office that it was hot passionate sex between them. But they would have fights all of the time, and I recall that when Diana would come into town she would stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel rather than at the house with Gene. So, in effect, he was living in her house while she was staying at a hotel. It was an odd love affair." said John Mackey, who had worked as a paralegal at Loeb and Loeb, the law firm that represents Diana Ross.

By the summer of 1980, Diana and Gene were in full throes of passionate romance. He was following her around like an obedient puppy as Kiss tried to work out its tour schedules to suit Diana. She was busy promoting what would turn out to be her biggest solo album at Motown, diana, produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers of the group Chic.

When she appeared at Caesars in Vegas that June, Gene came with her. The women in Ross' entourage probably didn't feel safe when he was there, but the guys got along famously with Gene because, as one musician put it, "He was a helluva nice guy. A real man's man."

"We have an agreement, Gene and I," Diana insisted at the time. "He's not fooling around and I'm not fooling around."

It doesn't seem that Gene Simmons kept his end of the agreement; he's never been known to be monogamous. "I am aware that the whole time he was sleeping with Diana, he was dating other women," said a woman who worked for Diana Ross. "I'm also aware that she didn't know it."

Maybe what they say in Hollywood is true: nothing succeeds in the world like a little deception.

Once, when Diana and Gene were dining in a Manhattan restaurant, Gene saw a shapely blond woman he apparently knew sitting by herself. When Diana went to the ladies' room, Gene went to the other lady and struck up a conversation. Suddenly, he kissed her fully on the lips in front of everyone in the bistro, and then, using an eye-liner pencil she'd pulled from her purse, he jotted something on a match-book. He kissed her again, got up and went to his own table just as Diana returned.

She apparently had no idea about what had happened. She beamed as he rose to help her with her chair.

Diana may have tried to be oblivious to Gene's indiscretions at first, but it didn't take her long to figure out what was going on.

"Soon, she wanted him by her side every single minute," Michael Browne said in an interview. "And that's not Gene's style. Diana started getting very jealous and at one point went out and hunted him down in the middle of the night. He was out romping with the boys. He got pissed, stuck her in a cab and sent her home.

But, as always in her relationships with men, Diana was determined to make this guy her own."

It is ironic that such powerful and successful women like Diana Ross and Cher would want to associate with a man who would go to bed with almost any woman. "A man can have a girlfriend and be devoted to her, and still have a hundred lovers on the side," Gene Simmons reasoned.

I love all Miss Ross gossip.. Thanks OP.

R35 No, call her Diana, "Diana. Di-an-ah."

"That's perfectly acceptable behavior, I think." Gene said. With such a harem, Diana and Gene would often encounter one of his many girlfriends, usually aspiring actresses working as sales clerks. Gene would be very friendly—and Diana would storm off in a huff.

Many of these women attest to the fact that Simmons is, as one of them put it, "the consummate lover." She added, "No way could Diana resist being under his influence. He could make any woman happy. Knowing Gene, that romance had to be based on great sex."

In September, Diana Ross followed Gene Simmons and Kiss to England. She had never seen him perform and wanted to see what his stage persona was like. Now she was a glorified groupie.

While there, she held a press conference at the Inn on the Park Hotel in London, ". . . in order to discuss," observed British writer Danny Baker, ". . . uh . . . well nobody was actually sure of that." Diana was described by Fleet Street journalists as "the famed girlfriend of Gene Simmons." During the press reception, she was presented with a platinum record for diana.

If she was going to England to be with Gene Simmons, Diana would have been better served by keeping a low profile. As it was, she had no theatrical business there except to tape an episode of "The Muppet Show."

After the press conference, New Musical Express ran a photograph of Diana with the caption: "Unveiling of the Kiss Army mascot."

"Why is she here?" one of Gene Simmons' fellow bandmembers asked.

" 'Cause I love her," Gene replied.

As passionate as the romance may have been in private, publicly Miss Ross demanded respect. In the past, Gene used to grab his girlfriends' asses or tweak their breasts. There would be none of that with Diana Ross. She may have been a groupie, but she drew the line at public humiliation.

Gene told one of his fellow bandmembers. "Can't grab her ass whenever I feel like it. She'd kill me. She's a real lady."

"Well, then," said the musician, "what the hell is she doing with you?"

When did her affair with Gordy actually end. Some of the above sounds like he's a jealous lover or am I mistaken? I mean if they were long over then why would a studio head care who she dated?

I had to jump ahead and FANK YOU OP for sharing these! This family is sick and we love it! Muah!

As passionate as the romance may have been in private, publicly Miss Ross demanded respect. In the past, Gene used to grab his girlfriends' asses or tweak their breasts. There would be none of that with Diana Ross. She may have been a groupie, but she drew the line at public humiliation.

Gene told one of his fellow bandmembers. "Can't grab her ass whenever I feel like it. She'd kill me. She's a real lady." "Well, then," said the musician, "what the hell is she doing with you?"

In November 1980, after "It's My Turn" was released, Diana's contract with Motown expired. For the first time, she did not rush to renew it.

Berry felt she was bluffing. She already had more freedom than he felt she needed and deserved, and some of her solo decisions, like starring in The Wiz, had proved to be bad career moves. He didn't mind her moving to New York, he tolerated her romances with Ryan O'Neal and Gene Simmons, and he accepted the fact that she was purposely excluding him from creative involvement in her albums because, as he told friends, he felt all of this was just a phase. "She'll come around," he said

Berry was always one to look at what he called "the bigger picture." No matter how free this woman thought she was, she was still under contract to him and to Motown. Diana may have felt that she was acting like an adult—moving away from Berry's domination, having affairs, making some of her own decisions—but actually, where Berry was concerned, she was just "playing grown-up."

He’s an asshole but he was probably right regarding ms.ross

R41 Totally agree, Ryan just put Diana in her place with her annoying diva behavior.

Also, It's True, Diana didn't want to be Black. That's a FACT.

Diana, relaxing in a steam room where she had just done a photo shoot, bellowed to two women sitting near her, "Hey, you. Get me a glass of water." To which the women--who were patrons of the spa, not employees--replied, "Get it yourself, you black bitch!"

Diana had become more lonely—since Gene Simmons was proving to be an undependable lover—and more confused than ever. She was determined to forge her own way and prove wrong anyone who felt she had made a mistake by leaving the security of Gordy and Motown.

By this time, Diana was being managed by Howard Marks of Glickman-Marks Management in New York. Since Berry no longer guided her, she needed someone to handle the tedious details of her career. It had to be someone who would do it her way, and apparently company partner Howard Marks fit the bill.

Gene Simmons had suggested Glickman-Marks because his group, Kiss, had been managed by them for some time. Glickman-Marks employed staffers who specialized in tour management and other services that could make Diana's transition from Motown to RCA an easier one

Said a former Glickman-Marks employee "Diana, apparently, was not willing to give Bob Ellis up just yet. In fact, I had the feeling that if there was anybody she really trusted at this time, it was Bob. He was extremely sweet, 180 degrees opposite of Diana's boyfriend, Gene Simmons. I did get the feeling that he would have liked not being around so much, that there was tension being in the same office as Gene Simmons."

Most of the female employees of Glickman-Marks felt hostile towards Simmons and his chauvinistic ways.

One secretary recalled the day Gene had nothing better to do than wad pieces of paper together and lob them across the room into her cleavage as she tried to work. But no one would dare say anything to criticize Gene because of his relationship with Diana

R44 hahhaaa Is this a true story?!

Yes the hell it is, R46. I believe the OP is fixing to elaborate.

Gene Simmons was/is Far WORSE than Ryan O'Neal in the Assholary department. and yet Ryan gets a bad rap for it and treated as if he is the devil.

In some ways, it's understandable that Diana tolerated Gene Simmons and didn't recognize characteristics of his personality that made him so unappealing to her female employees.

Perhaps the reason she didn't see Gene as being the sexist he was is because she was so accustomed to being around Berry Gordy, a man considered by many of his female employees to be quite the chauvinist.

During her years at Motown at Berry's side, Diana witnessed extreme cases of what could certainly be called male chauvinism. Since she herself had never been targeted in a blatant manner by Berry, she was indifferent to the way Berry and some of the other men treated many of the women at Motown.

For instance, once Berry conducted a meeting with Diana Ross and some Motown executives. He was tape-recording the confab, as he always did, when the recorder malfunctioned. Berry contacted one of Diana's female assistants on an intercom and asked that she bring in a new cord for the machine. With cord in hand, she appeared instantly and proceeded to walk across the room in the direction of the faulty equipment.

"What do you think you're doing?" Barry demanded to know. "Don't you know there's a meeting going on here?"

"I'm going to fix the tape recorder," the assistant explained. "Isn't that what you want?"

"Well, what we don't want is to see you," was Berry's response.

"Then how do I fix the equipment?"

"On your knees," Berry said. "You get on your knees and walk across the room that way."

The perplexed assistant looked over to her boss, Miss Ross, for help. But Diana just stared at her with an impatient countenance. Then she watched, along with everyone else in the room—including three other women, all in power positions—as the female assistant got down on her knees. She made it half way across the room before finally scrambling to her feet, exclaiming, "I'll be damned if I'm going to do this." With that, she ran out of the room in tears and slammed the door behind her

Berry seemed genuinely baffled by the woman's behavior. To his way of thinking, his request wasn't chauvinistic or cruel as much as it was just his way of having an employee appear inconspicuous during a meeting.

To the assistant, Berry's request was demoralizing, not to mention a great indignity. But quite a few women—and men as well—have privately admitted that they were elevated into key positions at Motown only after having their dignity stripped away, and then replaced by something perceived by the powers-that-be as "loyalty."

This is the school from which Miss Ross graduated. The reason she acts the way she does and often treats people in a manner that might be considered thoughtless is because she was so influenced by Motown's—Gordy's—corporate philosophy that the personal liberties and even feeling of employees are simply not as important as absolute devotion to the boss.

Diana and Gene Simmons danced the night away. He presented her with a chocolate birthday cake decorated with two long-lashed eyes, framed by 38 candles and bearing the message: "Diana—the two eyes that haunt me—Love, Gene."

"I do know that I want to marry again," Diana said at the time. "I do have Gene—for what it is, nothing more. Gene and I are not even thinking about marriage.

"I guess I'm seeking in a man the same relationship I had with my father," Diana told reporter Colin Dangaard. "He was always strong, sure, sensitive."

Marriage for Diana and Gene was unlikely; the two had been steadily growing apart. It seemed that Diana grew discouraged about the fact that Gene Simmons would not totally commit himself to her.

"They would have fights all the time," John Mackey, a paralegal at Loeb and Loeb, recalled. "And then 24 hours later they were back together again. They never really lived together in Beverly Hills, though. Gene was staying at the house, and when Diana was in town, she would stay at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He might spend the night there, or she might spend it at the house. But living together was, for some reason, not something she wanted to do. She wasn't willing to go that far with him, let him have that much control over her."

Apparently, like Ryan O'Neal before him, Gene Simmons was perplexed and often irritated by Diana's diva mentality.

His previous girlfriend, Cher, was much more down to earth and levelheaded. Often, Diana would find one of her male employees sharing a soft drink with Gene, which would unnerve her.

"Don't you have a job to do?" she would chastise the employee.

"Uh, sorry, Miss Ross."

"Don't you Miss Ross me, just do your job."

Gene—or Genie, as she was calling him by this time—would often take Diana aside and suggest that perhaps she was too tough on her staff. However, she wasn't exactly eager for Gene to tell her how to run her organization.

When she insisted that "they are the help," Gene would usually tell her to "shut up." He wasn't one to mince words with her.

Sometimes, though, Diana's eccentricities were amusing. Once, she and Gene walked into Nirvana restaurant in New York and asked for a table by the window so that they could have a view of Central Park. There wasn't one immediately available so they accepted a table elsewhere. When the waiter returned with their drinks, he couldn't find them. They had picked up the table and moved it next to a window.

Finally, Diana decided to break off with Gene.

Finally, Diana decided to break off with Gene. It was quick and quite mysterious. One of Cher's children has said that while Mother was out of town, Gene had stayed in the apartment which they once shared in Manhattan.

Apparently, Diana didn't believe that Cher had really left New York when he stayed there and was hurt and angry because she believed that the two had resumed their affair.

This misunderstanding marked not only the end of Diana's romance with Gene Simmons, but also her friendship with Cher.

"Diana was never the same after that," said Cher's child. "She used to be so much fun when she and my mother would be together. But after that, she disappeared. My mother could never understand why she was so upset."

Diana said of Gene, "I've ended a relationship after two and a half years because the commitment, that total sharing that I want, was not there."

Cher, who is known not to have much time for what she calls "life's bullshit," probably thought Diana was being rather silly and melodramatic.

When Ron Delpit, a popular Las Vegas reporter, tried to obtain Diana Ross for a charity concert, she informed him personally that she did not have time. He recalled, "She said she didn't give a shit about the charity because her kids were in Las Vegas for the weekend and she wanted to spend her time with them, which I guess was understandable."

But when he told her that Cher's children were in town for the last concert and she brought them along to the event, he said that Diana Ross' reply was, "Who cares about Cher! She'll go to the opening of a hot dog stand!"

Diana Ross and Michael Jackson:

By 1980, Michael Jackson had become so reclusive and eccentric that he had no friends, least of all Diana Ross. He spent most of his time alone except for his animals and a staff that didn't dare disagree with him because they wanted to keep their jobs.

Michael Jackson appropriated Diana Ross' early '70s speaking voice, an uncertain, shy, slightly inarticulate way of communicating. It's been reported over and over again that he had plastic surgery so he could look like her as well

"He's doing everything he can to be physically perfect," insists June Gatlin, a friend of the Jackson family. "In his eyes, Diana is perfect and he will change anything about himself to emulate her."

One chauffeur in Hollywood tells the story of Michael demanding that he be called Miss Ross while being driven around Beverly Hills. "I said, 'Mr. Jackson, would you like . . .' and he cut me off," said the chauffeur. "He said, 'Please, call me Miss Ross.' So I did."

Jackson certainly looks more like Diana Ross now than he did before the surgery—with the almond-shaped eyes, the tweezed, arched eyebrows, the high cheekbones, the nose tapered, tapered and tapered again—actually it's much more pixie-like than Diana's. He has said privately that he has it so he won't look like his father Joseph Jackson.

"I'd do anything so as not to end up looking like him," Michael told one friend. "I couldn't bear to look at myself in the mirror if I had to have my father staring back at me."

Michael Jackson is childlike in many ways, but he is also shrewd and manipulative, qualities he and Diana Ross share. Like Diana, he has also worked hard to be accepted by the white world and has professed to being color-blind. The black press views such comments as thinly veiled excuses meant to keep blacks out of their business affairs.

After firing his father, Michael worked almost exclusively with Jewish managers and attorneys. After Berry Gordy, Diana Ross has also worked mostly with Jewish managers and attorneys.

Michael enjoys being in the company of women like Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor and Katharine Hepburn, They enjoy being with him because he flatters them and is awed by them.

Despite the fact that Michael has repeatedly said that Diana is "like a mother-lover-friend" to me, the two have never had a sexual relationship. "It's all been in Michael's head," said a friend of his who would only speak anonymously. "The fantasy of making love to Diana Ross is appealing, but the actual thought of such a thing probably isn't. He is too intimidated by her to ever think of making a pass at her."

Perhaps Diana put her feelings about Michael in perspective when she told one of her audiences during a Los Angeles engagement, that 'Muscles' was written for me by Michael Jackson. But I don't know whether it's supposed to be his fantasy or mine."

Michael, shy and skittish when offstage, has always envied Diana's stage presence and the way she is able to mingle with her fans in the audience during a show. Certainly when he is on stage, Jackson is in his element. But to actually go out among the fans, it's almost too much for him to comprehend. "I'm too scared to do that," he told her. "I don't know how you do it."

Diana could only smile. She knows that she's the happy, bright picture of poise and elegance when she's on stage, as long as everything goes well. Otherwise, the painting darkens somewhat.

When Michael Jackson became identified in the media as a humanitarian, Diana must have been spurred on to do something to rectify her selfish public persona.

"I really want to make a difference in my life," she insisted in interviews. "I'd like to serve mankind in some way. I want to be a tunnel," she said, though no one was ever certain what she meant by this. "I want to use my life to do good. I want to be exploited." She wasn't very convincing.

Soon, she started The Diana Ross Foundation which, according to the quickly released notices to the press, was "an organization through which Miss Ross will channel her philanthropic activities."

After the holidays, it was time for Diana Ross to prepare another album, her fifth, for RCA. In February 1985, she began recording Eaten Alive, with Barry Gibb producing. Gibb co-produced the title track with Michael Jackson.

At this point, Michael had recently had his second nose surgery. This was the first time Diana had seen the newly sculpted nose and, though she tried not to stare, it wasn't easy.

Later, when Michael wasn't around, she turned to an associate and said, "My God! That boy has got to stop fooling with his face. What is he doing?" She became exasperated and asked again, "Someone please tell me, what he is doing to his face?"

The associate explained to her, "Miss Ross, they say he's trying to look like you."

"I look like that ?"she asked incredulously

.....The wedding would be a spectacular affair, and first on Diana's guest list was Michael Jackson. Many have felt that Jackson's fame had long eclipsed Diana's, and she must have realized that having him at the ceremony would be a major coup and certainly help garner the kind of press she hoped the event would generate for her. She even considered asking Jackson to give her away.

Diana had noticed that Michael was acting particularly strange in recent years. She had extended many invitations to him to visit her at her home, but after Thriller became a major hit in 1984, he started to decline her offers and spend more time with Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, Liza Minnelli and other "competing" stars. In turn Diana began to distance herself from Michael.

"I think he's getting stranger and stranger," she told one confidante. "And, frankly, it scares me. I'm scared for him. What kind of life will he have? I really do care."

One evening, before the American Music Awards in January 1986, which Diana hosted, Michael visited her in Las Vegas where she was appearing at Caesars Palace. She later told Cindy Birdsong and John Whyman that she was sitting with Jackson in her dressing room when she was called away.

When she returned, Michael wasn't in the sitting room where she had left him. Whyman recalled, "She told us that she looked around for him and eventually found him sitting in front of her make-up mirror carefully putting on her make-up."

Slowly, methodically, he was transforming himself into the very image of Miss Ross.

"Michael, now you get out of my make-up" Diana scolded him.

"But it's magic!" he insisted with a lip-glossed grin.

"Diana seemed very concerned about him," Whyman remembered.

"I just wish he would be himself,' she told us in a confidential tone, i wish he would stop worrying about what people will think of him if he just got real. After all,' she said with a knowing look in her eye, 'He did write that song "Muscles" for me.' "

Michael Jackson was truly heartbroken that Diana Ross planned to marry Arne Naess, and would later say that he was particularly hurt that she hadn't even introduced him to Arne, especially since they were already man and wife. "I was jealous because I've always loved Diana Ross and always will," he claimed. Michael simply could not believe that Diana would actually marry this square-looking fellow. Jackson was apparently still obsessed with her, even though they were now living in entirely different worlds.

No matter how famous Michael Jackson becomes, he is still intrigued by the mystique of Diana Ross. When he was a youngster, he would study videotapes of her so that he could imitate the way she moved on stage.

"He used to use his hands and arms like me," Diana once noted. She was very flattered by this imitation and wanted to influence Michael in any way she could. When Michael searched for his own style, the two spent endless hours talking about entertaining. He would ask Diana many questions about the way she performed, and it was often difficult for her to explain to him what she did on stage. Her art has always been instinctual. She rarely analyzed it

"You just be you," she told Michael. "Don't be me. Don't be anyone else. Be Michael Jackson, and you'll be a star. I guarantee it."

"But I just want to be like you, Diane," he told her. "I want to thrill people the way you do."

Though Diana had been accused of feeling competitive where other top record artists are concerned, mutual friends of hers and Michael's insist that she has never been jealous of her protege's fame. Rather she is proud of him and the influence she has had on him. Regardless of the fact that Michael Jackson has himself now influenced a whole generation of younger performers, he is still desperate for attention from the woman he had idolized as a youth. Letting Diana go is, to Michael, tantamount to growing up.

Before Diana married Arne, Michael insisted that she was the one and only love of his life, something he seemed to believe. "Yes, I would like to marry her," he said. And when someone brought up the 14-year age difference, he said, "So what? What does age have to do with this. Look at it this way: how old would you be if you didn't even know how old you were?"

It must have been a difficult decision for him to make, but Michael Jackson would not go to Diana Ross' wedding, let alone give her away.

Things would never again be the same between them

Diana invited Michael Jackson to the christening. She certainly could have used another friend, but again he did not attend, much to her consternation.

At about this time, she was scheduled to host a salute to Michael Jackson on the Showtime cable network, which was being produced by Motown Productions. But when Michael didn't attend the christening party, Diana apparently felt very hurt. Perhaps that's why she decided not to host the Showtime special. In fact, say Motown staffers, she refused to be involved with it at all.

Michael was upset about this turn of events. He couldn't understand why Diana would be so hostile toward him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Since he had authority over the final edit of the program, Michael very artfully eliminated Diana from most of;the "memory footage" of the two of them together, giving her perhaps 30 seconds of total airtime. He went so far as to have the script publicly deny for the first time the story Berry Gordy had told about Diana "discovering" Jackson 5.

On the tape, Suzanne dePasse admitted that "it seemed like a good idea at the time" to say that Diana had found the group, but that it wasn't true. Then, in the next film clip, Ed Sullivan introduced Diana Ross from the audience as the person who discovered The Jackson Five, and she stood up and bowed graciously as everyone applauded.

The way Michael Jackson had this version edited made Diana Ross look like a liar. She had to be insulted.

Perhaps Diana did not want to appear on the special because she knew how much power Michael now wielded—people in Hollywood now bow to him much the same way they do her—and she does enjoy being the center of attention on any broadcast in which she's involved. This is why she rarely appears on TV anymore, unless it's a Motown special of some sort. Even then she usually requires that the program build up to a performance by her in which she is surrounded by all of the other guests.

Rarely will Diana be seen on any kind of variety program that features other celebrities in as prominent a role as hers.

One of the staffers on that Motown special characterized Jackson as being "a quiet power," meaning he sometimes seemed duplicitous in his business dealings. For instance, he praised the show's producer Anson Williams (former "Happy Days" star) and claimed that he was extremely happy with his work. The next day, Williams was fired by someone else.

Unlike his former mentor, Diana, Michael Jackson really does not have the heart to lower the hatchet himself.

But he can be just as demanding as Diana, if need be. For instance, he insisted that the tribute not include any photographs of him that were taken during the late '70s—before his three nose jobs

.....When Michael Jackson heard that it seemed that Diana would be writing memoirs for the same house that published his best-selling Moonwalk autobiography, he had to laugh. He told his associate editor at Doubleday, Shaye Areheart, "Listen, if you think I was difficult, just wait."

[quote]Long before I met Farrah, Diana Ross and I were signed_ to costar in The Bodyguard. John Boorman, who made Deliverance , was the director. Diana was difficult and opinionated.

[quote]All she did was complain about the script. We went through three screenplays. It would have been one thing if none of the scripts were good, but they were excellent.

[quote]I eventually got fed up with her imperiousness and we never did do the picture. More than a decade later it would be made into a box office smash with Kevin Costner and Whitney Houston.

Must've killed her.

The Authoress of this crap, J Randy Terrible Nelly, is a stupid bitch and a third rate Kitty Kelley impersonator.

R62 But what's in the book (released in 1988) is similar to what Ryan O'Neal recounted himself in his book in 2012. R20.

That is true, r63, but he’s still a stupid bitch.

R64 Are you Michael Jackson's fan?! I know many MJ fans who hate J. Randy Taraborrelli

That explains why she chose to open her 1983 Central Park concert with African Dancing.

It also explains her tv special where she did tributes to the black women who influenced her including, Ethel Waters and Josephine Baker.

Lastly it explains why despite being much too old she insisted on playing the part of Dorothy in The Wiz.

And OP why did you dig for the worst picture you could find to pair up with loser Ryan O’Neals nonsense?

Truth be told, I wanted to fuck him my own damn self.

Was it ever found out how she felt about the success of the later The Bodyguard?

[quote]During this time, he had a one-week affair with Margaret Trudeau.

My mom sure got a lot of good dick!

Ryan with Margaret Trudeau

Ryan with Margaret Trudeau dancing at Studio 54 - 1979

I refuse to believe that Cher genuinely found Gene Simmons attractive. Maybe she was doing undercover work for the F.B.I.

Diana Ross’s discography has aged much better than Streisand’s.

Did he give Farah the anal warts that eventually killed her?

R74 Ryan and Farrah separated in 1997, and Farrah had relationships/sex with other men after that. So It's not possible to speculate who gave her warts.

"Who cares about Cher! She'll go to the opening of a hot dog stand!"

LMAO

Mere PR, r66?

Meanwhile, Pierre Trudeau dated Barbra:

For a non-racist white guy to say a black woman "doesn't want to be black" is damning. He must've seen enough during their brief time together to turn him off like that.

What self-hating blacks don't understand is that, if a white person is dating you in the first place, they're unlikely to share your racial dislike and will be turned off with your lack of pride in yourself.

Ew, Ryan was a sweaty coked-out mess, just look at that swamp ass seeping through his pants in r70 pic.

I love the fact Diana was wealthier than these men, even before the RCA deal. I thought Berry paid his talent crap wages, but Diana was able to make bank.

R79 R80 100% True

It's Not only Ryan O'Neal who said or observed that about Diana Ross. It's a well known fact in Hollywood that Diana Ross didn't want to be black.

Was very disappointed to find out both Diana Ross and Tina Turner were very ignorant unintelligent women who didn't want to be black. Here's Tina Turner dismissing Africans as lazy, boring and uninspiring.

KILL THE RYAAN O’NEAL REDUNDANT THREAD STALKER WITH FIRE!!!!

Please F&F this and the other 38 threads on Ryan O’Neal.

ENOUGH. THE OP NEEDS MEDICAL ATTENTION, NOT TROLL INDULGERS.

R83 Imagine if a white celebrity said that in an interview!!!!!!!

I'm going to come to their defense for a moment, because as a gay man I feel compassion for anyone who is in an oppressed minority group, facing hatred and all that it entails on a daily basis throughout their lives. Diana and Tina came up in a time when being black was beyond a hardship. What black person, especially of their time didn't have some level of self hatred? That is not easy to rid oneself of. As gay men, especially the older ones, I'd think more of us would comprehend that.

[quote]but suffice it to say that pinning down Ryan O’Neal would be a deed in the same league as drinking the Atlantic Ocean, eating Mount Everest,

Such fine writing.

OP: Please give me credit for that photo of Diane I lent you.

R88 LMAO

But seriously, Both Elvis Presley and Steve McQueen thought that Mary Wilson was the pretty supreme. They didn't like Diana Ross.

And Diana and Tina went on to chase white men. Big surprise.

No respects you if you don’t respect yourself. Farah must’ve pitied her for that pathetic, childish behaviour at that restaurant

Oh, my. Black women who opened up and said they didn't wanna new black?

Who would blame them? They lived through some shitty times to black. Other than to protest, who here wants to be black during the 50s and 60s?? Anyone? Anyone?

Diana and Tina never stopped not wanting to be black.

The one and only time Diana Ross and Whitney Houston sang together on stage.

R94 Diane was nice for the cameras when Whitney showed her up on that Carole King song, but it was that night, later, when Diane was backstage and filled Whitney's purse with crack.

The best thing in R94 ‘s clip is Dustin Hoffman’s “what the fuck am I doing here” face.

That's Ella Fitzgerald between the Pointer Sisters.

[quote]Who would blame them? They lived through some shitty times to black. Other than to protest, who here wants to be black during the 50s and 60s?? Anyone? Anyone?

Aretha and Nina Simone must've missed that memo that they should've been ashamed to be black.

R98 not everyone is as strong as them, have some fucking human compassion for once in your miserable bitter judgemental self righteous life. Do you out closeted gays for kicks?

So we should feel sympathy for them for being self-loathing?

No, go ahead and hate them for being human.

Aaron Schock was only being human too. He was not as strong as the many flaming gay militants on here who never had to come out because it's been glaringly obvious since they shimmied in the sandbox.

^^^^^

Diana is an embarrassment. But for some reason, she got a pass.

And who the hell didn't know Aaron was gay as a Christmas goose since he was 3? The boy didn't need to shimmy in the sandbox because he was too busy decorating it with feathers.

Point is, Aaron and Diana are the same.

Which means her attitudes are as contemptable as his and should not be excused.

R106 In other words your point is completely fucked up. Aaron is a worthless piece of shit only worthy as a rag to wipe up the floor at Broadway bares.

As is Diana

Despite Ross's outrageous diva behavior I really doubt she has done anything nearly as miserable as Schock has done to hurt people.

R93, some say the same about Lena Horne and Eartha Kitt.

Horne said something about not accepting herself until she was an old woman and she wished it had happened sooner.

[QUOTE] At the end of the show she did a Wiz number and she apologized for the music being too slow, and said, “Forgive me, audience,” which she didn’t have to say because no one knew the difference.

Reads like she was lip syncing and the machine was having a problem

Sad to say but most black celebrities have self loathing issues.

I wouldn't say "most", but enough for it to be a concern. You've seen the men obsessed with white women not knowing it would ruin their career. For one, black women don't want to feel rejected, and white women interested in black guys don't want an oreo. Taye Diggs was primed to be the next black sex symbol, now he can't get arrested.

[quote] Taye Diggs was primed to be the next black sex symbol, now he can't get arrested.

To be fair that was a self inflicted wound.