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‘About My Life and the Kept Woman’ is the autobiography by gay author, John Rechy. John Rechy published his first novel in 1963, City of Night, about hustling in the streets of L.A. Yet, at the time, he was still earning his living as a prostitute on the streets of Los Angeles. And as The Independent put it, “so began a bizarre double life… By day, he was a writer, mixing with fellow authors, even teaching at UCLA. By night, he was back on the streets, selling sex to men.”

Rechy writes, “I wanted demarcation between the different areas of my life, and I fooled myself that I could keep them separate. I wanted to be treated one way as ‘the writer’, another way as ‘the hustler’, and if they crossed over I got very confused.”

“It got ridiculous,” writes Rechy. “People hit on me all the time, far more than I say in the book. Looking back, I can see it was my own fault – I projected a very sexual image, and I shouldn’t have been surprised when people responded.” Ridiculous it may have been, but the masquerade continued well into Rechy’s thirties. “In the 1970s, when I was teaching at UCLA, I’d finish my evening classes, then change my clothes somewhat and go down to hustle on Santa Monica Boulevard. One night, a student saw me down there and said ‘Good evening, Professor Rechy. Are you out for an evening stroll?’”

“Rechy’s life changed one evening in 1981, when, still hustling in his forties, he was approached by a young man of 23. Rechy says, “This very good looking person drove up and looked at me – and I thought ‘Oh boy, no hustling tonight! This one’s for free’. So I sacrificed something like 20 bucks, and got myself a future. I really liked him, and for the first time ever I gave someone my phone number, but I was still stuck in the hustler role. I took him back to my elegant apartment, and I had to lie and tell him I was looking after it for a friend, because I didn’t want to be associated with all those pretty things. We met up a couple more times, and I finally let the façade drop when he made some comment about Luis Buñuel, and I responded. It all came out that I wasn’t just some dumb hustler, I showed him my books, and he stood there with his mouth hanging open. We’ve been together ever since, 27 years.”

His other books, including Numbers, Rushes, and The Sexual Outlaw, explore the ups and (mostly) downs of his compulsive sex life. 

Read a complete review of ‘About My Life and the Kept Woman’ in The Independent.