From kissing Diana Ross to attending an orgy, Billy Dee Williams reveals all in new memoir

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ star Billy Dee Williams, 86, recently dropped his new memoir ‘What Have We Here?’. 

While the memoir is replete with stories from his seven decades-long thespian career, it is equally full of colorful tales of his wild love life. From his clandestine affairs to open marriages - Williams has talked about it all.

Billy Dee Williams lost his virginity at the age of 17

Billy Dee Williams reveals in his memoir that he lost his virginity at the age of 17 to a woman residing in the same Harlem building as him, per Page Six.

He shared, “A woman in our building who was raising several children lured me into her apartment one day and seduced me,” before adding, “It didn’t take much effort … once she got me inside her place, she knew exactly what she wanted to do."

He explained, "I was at that age where all I knew was that I was having sex. I didn’t know how or why, only that it was happening.”

Billy Dee Williams flirted with Sir Laurence Olivier's fiancee

After the actor got his big break on Broadway in 1960, he was cast in the play 'A Taste of Honey' opposite Joan Plowright. Williams narrated about his experience of flirting with Plowright whom he called 'Joanie'.

He wrote that he “flirted" with Plowright "constantly and unabashedly” and described, “She liked onions and I liked garlic. Onstage, we breathed all over each other and we got a kick out of quietly finding out what the other had eaten for lunch or dinner. I flirted with her constantly and unabashedly.”

Williams wrote that once Plowright's much older fiance, Sir Laurence Olivier - who was starring in a play at the theater next door - visited them at their theater. Williams wrote that the legend “caught me hitting on her. He feigned shock and anger and then let loose an infectious cackle."

Billy Dee Williams' unfulfilled romance with Diana Ross

While Williams prided himself about his expertise in women, there is a woman with whom he had an unfulfilled romance. Williams shared that while he "enjoyed" kissing Ross, who was his costar in 'Lady Sings the Blues' and 'Mahogany', he could not break the fences.

The actor wrote, "Diana was a gorgeous woman and I enjoyed kissing her. I loved kissing, period. Sometimes kissing could be even better than sex,” before adding, “The only person who had a problem with our kissing was Berry [Gordy].”

The producer of 'Mahogany', Gordy, was the secret lover of Ross and fathered a daughter with her named Rhonda.

He shared, “During rehearsals, [Gordy] always found a reason to step in and stop us just before we got to the point where we kissed,” before adding, “That’s good, that’s enough, you got it, and then you kiss.”

He shared that while the cameras were rolling, “It was Berry and not … the director, who would say, ‘Cut!'”

Billy Dee Williams' marriage history

Williams got married to actress Audrey Sellers in 1959. After the marriage ended in 1963, he started dating a woman who he had known since her teens, Yvonne. 

He recounted in the memoir that one day he came home to find Yvonne hoisting an orgy, which he described, “There were women and men, and a lot of nakedness."

He continued, “The craziness was more than I was prepared to deal with after work.” He decided to take a shower and “invited a young woman who was already undressed to join me. Why not?”

However, it was not welcomed by Yvonne who wanted to take revenge by making him watchg her having sex with another man. Nevertheless, he found the scene hilarious. 

Yvonne then cut up Williams’ “beautiful alpaca sweaters" with a pair of scissors.

He commented, "That hurt almost more than if she’d cut me. It was the excuse I needed to get away from Yvonne.”

Later, he had an open marriage with Teruko Nakagami during which he also had an extramarital affair with Patricia Price. 

He wrote, “The intense passion of our trysts was something we both craved. I was totally, thoroughly caught up in the romance of each one of our assignations,” and added, “But Patricia was truly, madly obsessed. She once spray-painted a message on the guardrails along Mulholland Drive: I love Billy Dee.”

The affair ended when Patricia accused him of assault. She, however, later recanted her story and he was absolevd of the charges.

Williams laters separated from Nakagami but did not officially divorce, citing it was financially feasible to stay married.