Billie Jean King.Photo: Gotham/Getty
For 42 years,Billie Jean Kinghas been in love with her former doubles partner Ilana Kloss. The couple “wore each other’s rings for years,” King says, and called themselves “life partners.” But they never married. Not whenElton Johnnudged, offering to sing at the wedding. Not whenJohn McEnroeneedled (“C’mon, Billie Jean … Wrap it up and put a bow on it already!” he told her one night in Las Vegas, one tennis legend to another).
Or so the story went — until now.
King, 77, says that until the writing ofAll In, only three other people knew about the marriage: Dinkins' wife Joyce and an aide, who acted as witnesses that day (the aide also snapped the newlyweds one-and-only wedding photograph); plus the City Hall worker who processed the marriage license.
Ilana Kloss, Joyce Dinkens, David Dinkens, and Billie Jean King.David Dinkins
“Nobody threw rice or smashed wedding cake in the other’s face,” King writes. “One of the brides wore jeans and a lovely red scarf and the other had on a black shirt, a comfortable warm‑up suit, and pearls — ha! — a personal touch of glamour that Ilana still teases me about.”
Why the change of mind after 42 years?
“I felt very married to Ilana, whether I had a piece of paper or not,” King tells PEOPLE. “But I’d had a big problem with trusting and it meant a lot to show my trust in Ilana.” Plus, King writes in the book, “Years from now, I never want anyone to question how much I was committed to you.”
For more of PEOPLE’s interview, pick up this week’s issue, on newsstands Friday.
As for the secrecy, King quotes Kloss, 65, as explaining, “So much of our life has been public, keeping this private was something special we could hold on to, just for us.”
Not even their closest friends and aides knew until they received an advance copy ofAll Infrom King. “It was their gift to all of us to read it in the book,” says King’s publicist of 30 years, Tip Nunn.
A Lifetime’s Insight on Sexuality
King, who was 21 when she married her college sweetheart Larry King and remained his wife for 22 years until their divorce in 1987, also reflected in the interview on the ever-“evolving” nature of sexuality. She was 51 before she publicly and unequivocally acknowledged she is gay.
Sexuality is “a continuum. You’re finding your truth, and it doesn’t have to stay the same,” King says. “I only liked guys when I was young. I didn’t think about girls. And then all of a sudden I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what’s happening?’ My truth was changing over time. It took me forever.”
“Kids today, because the environment is different, if you want to say, I’m bi or I’m gay, or whatever, they can find someone to say, Okay, that’s good! And it does evolve. We’re all much more fluid in our sexuality than we realize. You can fall in love with somebody no matter what their sexuality is. It’s much healthier today than it’s ever been and hopefully it will continue.”
source: people.com
