Scott Thorson was born in Wisconsin in 1959. In 1976, Thorson was introduced to a celebrity performer known as Liberace. Liberace hired Thorson when he turned eighteen to be a personal assistant, and also incorporated him into his shows. Thorson was costumed and drove Liberace onstage like a chauffer in a Rolls Royce. Thorson and Liberace entered into a sexual relationship fairly quickly, and there was even bizarre talk of Liberace adopting this adult man with whom he was in a sexual relationship. Thorson and Liberace had significant issues in their relationship, such as drug addiction on Thorson's part and infidelity on Liberace's part. Thorson is adamant that Liberace was the one who got him started on drugs, especially after he received plastic surgery to make his face look more like Liberace's. That was extremely weird behavior, in my opinion. The relationship lasted from 1977 to 1982, when Thorson was fired by Liberace and they broke up. Thorson famously filed a massive multi million dollar lawsuit against Liberace for palimony and did a press tour for this book.

Liberace himself was a very...interesting character. He was born in 1919 in Wisconsin, and began playing piano at the age of four. Both of his parents played instruments, as well as one of his siblings. In his 20s, he briefly played with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which I thought was very neat. He started branching out and doing different things with his performances and stage shows, ultimately adding massive costumes and unique pianos. He appeared on all kinds of different talk shows, much like celebrities do today when they are on their press runs. (I say this as though this happened a long time ago, but it really wasn't since I was born in 1988 and I refuse to think of myself as a back in the day person.) Liberace was touted as a sex symbol, and women loved him...the problem was, he was interested in men. He didn't like to admit that he was gay, suing the Daily Mirror for libel. (In his defense, the Daily Mirror is vile and continues to be.) He also carried on about women, dismissing his lack of marriage and children as simply "not finding the right one". Betty White famously came out and said she was used as a cover for him at events and in the media so people would stop talking about him being gay, but he certainly was gay. He wound up dying from AIDS complications at the age of 67, not too long after he and the author of this book called it quits. If you are interested or live close to Las Vegas, there is evidently a Liberace Museum that houses his costumes and other items, and I would really love to see that.

This book is currently available on Audible Plus to listen to for free with your subscription if you are interested. It is also $10 on Kindle. It isn't a very long book, so it doesn't take a lot of time to read, and I appreciated that since it is helping me meet my massive reading challenge goal I set for myself this year. I looked up pictures of the author of this book both before and after his plastic surgery...and he should not have gotten the plastic surgery. That whole situation was so bizarre to me. He has also had drug problems off and on throughout his life, and I think he probably would not have had drug problems if he wasn't given all manner of things to lose weight for that insane plastic surgery, and then fed full of stuff afterwards. (I also found, in the courses of Googling, that there is a movie entitled Behind The Candelabra, and it is currently available to watch on HBO MAX, and I am going to watch that tonight!) He has found himself incarcerated for various crimes and in bed with some seedy characters. I highly recommend searching up current information about the author if you choose to read this book. As far as the book itself is concerned, I thought it was very entertaining and informative. People are often interested in celebrity stories, and I have to admit that it is one of my guilty pleasures. I wasn't very familiar with Liberace, other than knowing the name, but this book and the other articles and things I read in preparation of this review absolutely generated an opinion of him. Of course, every relationship has two sides, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle. I believe that the author was truthful in relating his personal experiences, and probably pretty factual based on the things I have subsequently learned about Liberace. I felt like this book was definitely worth the time it took me to read it, especially since it was less than 300 pages.