Culture

Did Richard Pryor and Marlon Brando sleep together?

Feb 09 2018
Written by Meka Beresford

(Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Earlier this week Richard Pryor’s widow revealed that the comedian had slept with famed actor Marlon Brando.

Jennifer Lee Pryor confirmed to TMZ that the late comedian had had sex with the Oscar-winning actor after Quincy Jones claimed that they had in an interview with Vulture.

(Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

84-year-old musician Jones explained that he, Brando, Pryor, James Baldwin and Marvin Gaye all used to go dancing together.

“Brando used to go cha-cha dancing with us,” he said. “He could dance his ass off.

“He was the most charming motherfucker you ever met. He’d fuck anything. Anything! He’d f*ck a mailbox. James Baldwin. Richard Pryor. Marvin Gaye,” Jones added.

When Vulture asked how Jones knew for sure that Brando had relations with Pryor, Baldwin and Gaye he responded that “He (Brando) did not give a f*ck!”.

Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The comments cracked open a Pandora’s box of questions about fans of the figures who all became idols in their own right.

Jennifer Lee Pryor put some of the rumours to rest after she confirmed that her husband was “openly bisexual”.

“If you listen to Richard’s comedy—the early stuff— he was way ahead of his time on gay rights!!! #noshame,” she wrote on Twitter.

Talking to TMZ she said: “It was the ’70s! Drugs were still good, especially quaaludes. If you did enough cocaine, you’d f*** a radiator and send it flowers in the morning.”

Jennifer Lee Pryor (M)
(Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)

She added that the comedian would be cracking up” if he heard that Quincy Jones was revealing information about his sex life.

However, Pryor’s daughter Rain has now come out to dismiss Jones’ claim and slam Jennifer Lee Pryor for confirming the rumours.

In a Facebook Post, Rain Pryor said that the comments were “Faux News”.

She wrote: “All you who touted Faux News and preach about wanting blacks to be represented in a great light and then posted Q’s interview are irrelevant and full of your own BS. Q, was once a brilliant music producer who is losing his mind and decided to garner publicity for himself with a sensationalized interview.

“Then on top of it all, my dad’s so-called widow validated it, because she needs to keep legitimizing herself and tarnish our dad even after he’s dead. She hated Q and Daddy.”

Rain Pryor (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Later on, Rain Pryor wrote a second post in which she specified that “Daddy did NOT have relations with Brando.”

“There were no trips to his South Pacific Oasis, no flowers or love notes between. Not even a film role.

“My dad was very open with his life, so much so that news of his relationship with a trans woman in the early 70s and 80s wasn’t really newsworthy nor notable. As a child, I knew her, not as the trans person in our home, but the lady whom everyone accepted.”

Now, it is not quite clear whether Pryor and Brando did have sex but Jennifer Lee Pryor insisted that the truth will come out when his unedited, raw diaries are published later this year.

“With Richard, it has to be authentic or we shouldn’t bother,” she added. “That’s all it can be.”