How Billie Jean King was exposed by her secret lover, then rejected by the world

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When most young married couples get pregnant, it’s time to party.

But as tennis legend Billie Jean King reveals in his new autobiography, “All in(Knopf), released on Tuesday, was not the case for her and her husband, Larry, in 1971.

Despite rumors that they were about to go their separate ways, the Kings had fallen pregnant. As Billie’s playing career and business interests continue to grow stronger and her marriage is not in its best shape, she has decided to terminate her pregnancy and Larry has agreed to support her.

At the time, abortion was still a crime in many states across the country. California, where King lived, allowed it, but as a “therapeutic” procedure performed by a doctor in a hospital – and only after she was able to appear before a medical committee to explain why she needed it. ‘interruption.

By the time King won the Virginia Slims professional women’s tennis circuit in 1971, she already had more than a dozen tournament victories to her name.
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“Explaining to a panel of ten or fifteen strangers why I qualified for an abortion was probably the most degrading thing I have ever experienced,” King writes.

Additionally, the procedure cost $ 580 – a significant sum in 1971 – and could only take place after her husband had given permission and signed the consent form.

It was, according to Larry King, “ridiculous”.

It is a testament to King’s ability and state of mind that she again enjoyed the most successful year of her tennis career in 1971, winning 17 tournaments, including the US Open.

But she also endured brutal sexism on the pitch.

When she was 15, a coach told her she would go far because she was “ugly”. Once she hit hard, Los Angeles Times columnist Jim Murray wrote that “King has never forgiven nature for the dirty trick she played on her by preventing her from being free security. for the Green Bay Packers “.

Even top players in men’s football, like American Stan Smith, have questioned why women would want to compete. “These girls would be much happier if they settled down, got married and started a family,” he told Britain’s Daily Mirror. “Tennis is a tough life and it’s really not good for them. It defeminates them.

But it was Bobby Riggs who really put himself in King’s shoes. A former Wimbledon men’s champion, Riggs had regularly criticized the women’s game and repeatedly challenged King to a match live on television. He also had just beaten Margaret Court, the winner of a record 24 Grand Slam women’s singles titles, 6-2, 6-1 in a similar challenge.

Billie Jean King confronts a self-confessed "chauvinist pig" Bobby Riggs at "Battle of the sexes" tennis match at the Houston Astrodome.
Billie Jean King faces off against Bobby Riggs, a self-proclaimed “chauvinist pig”, in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match at the Houston Astrodome.
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Tired and angered by the endless provocation, King finally gave in and the “Battle of the Sexes” took place at the Houston Astrodome on September 20, 1973, with 90 million viewers tuning in for the game-winning 100,000. $.

“I’ll tell you why I’m going to win,” Riggs said at a press conference. “She’s a woman and they don’t have emotional stability. She will choke, just like Margaret did. . . man is supreme.

Riggs later showed up to his workout wearing a t-shirt with two circles cut out to expose his nipples, before joking to reporters that he thought the t-shirt would look better on his opponent.

“It crossed the line,” King said.

King and her then-husband Larry arrived in Los Angeles Superior Court in 1981 to seek a judge's order to evict his former lover, Marilyn Barnett, from their beach house in Malibu.
King and her then-husband Larry arrived in Los Angeles Superior Court in 1981 to seek a judge’s order to evict his former lover, Marilyn Barnett, from their beach house in Malibu.
PA

With the largest tennis crowd in US history, King routed Riggs in straight sets, inflicting on him what he would later call “the most disappointing and disheartening experience of my life.” “.

At the same time, King faced an even greater challenge. She knew she was gay. In the 1970s, homosexuality was still criminalized in many states and close friends discouraged her from coming out, especially as her career was booming.

In a Playboy interview in 1975, she actually denied being a lesbian.

Marilyn Barnett enters the Superior Court of Los Angeles.
Marilyn Barnett enters the Superior Court of Los Angeles.
PA

“My sex life is nobody’s business,” she said. “[But] if I don’t answer your question, people will think I have something to hide. . . [so] I will give you the answer. No, I am not a lesbian. It’s not even in the stadium for me.

As King continued to hide her sexuality over the years, she felt acute stress. Doctors even told her she was at risk of developing ulcers. On one occasion, King tried to bring up the issue with his mother, his mother just stood up and left the room saying, “We don’t talk about this stuff in our family.”

But the decision to go out was finally withdrawn by Marilyn Barnett.

King first met Barnett in May 1972 and the couple hit it off, in large part because Barnett, a hairdresser, knew nothing about tennis. By the end of the year, however, the relationship had turned physical and King admits that she “was living a double life, in broad daylight.”

Soon, Barnett would become her home assistant and route manager, traveling the world with her and taking care of all of King’s needs. But in the summer of 1973, Barnett’s behavior began to worry King. Possessive and controlling, the two broke up and the relationship ceased to be physical.

After being ostracized by sponsors, Billie Jean King continued to play tennis.
After being ostracized by the sponsors, King continued to play tennis.
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Despite this, Barnett continued to live in Kings’ house in Malibu, rent free, until 1978, when King gave him notice to leave.

Soon after, Barnett threatened to sell the personal letters King had written him to the tabloids. She also attempted suicide, once leaving a suicide note before throwing herself off the balcony of the Malibu property.

Just when the Kings thought they had made a deal to pay her off, Barnett’s attorney revealed that his client had found additional personal letters that were “much more than our agreement”.

Finally, in April 1981, Barnett filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles County Superior Court demanding the Malibu house half of King’s income over the seven years she claimed they had been together and supported. for life.

“I had been unmasked,” writes King. “My worst nightmare had come true.

During a hastily organized damage limitation exercise, King held a press conference at a Los Angeles hotel, alongside her husband Larry, where she confessed to having an affair with Bennett, calling her a “mistake” and thanking her husband for his loyalty. and support.

Who turns being unmasked into a way to get deeper into the closet? But that’s what I did.

Billie Jean King, on the denial of her sexuality

Today, King admits in her memoir that she handled everything badly.

“Who turns being unmasked into a way to get deeper into the closet?” ” she thinks. “But that’s what I did.”

The palimony lawsuit was ultimately dismissed by the court, with the judge accusing Barnett of “attempted extortion” and giving him 30 days to leave the house.

But the victory came at a price.

In the first two months of filing the complaint, King lost at least $ 500,000 in endorsements. Later TV commercials featuring her were shelved and Wimbledon pulled out of a deal to create a Billie Jean King clothing line. She lost a $ 300,000 contract with Murjani Jeans and a $ 90,000 Japanese fashion contract.

And then there was a $ 45,000 contract with Charleston Hosiery, “whose CEO called me a ‘bitch’ in a letter when he fired me,” King writes.

King and current partner Ilana Kloss.
King and current partner Ilana Kloss.
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At almost 38, she lost most of her future income and also had to pay half a million dollars in legal fees. There was only one way out: she had to keep playing tennis.

King has never added to her tally of 12 Grand Slam singles titles, but she reached two consecutive semifinals at Wimbledon, in 1982 and 1983, becoming the oldest woman in over 60 years to reach this stage. of the competition.

After 850 singles matches on the tour and 27 years of competitive tennis, Billie Jean King finally came to terms with her life in December 1983.

Remarkably, the Kings remained married throughout the palimony affair and did not separate until 1987, when King fell in love with his doubles partner, Ilana Kloss.

President Barack Obama awarded the King the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
President Barack Obama awarded the King the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009.
Bloomberg via Getty Images

When asked why he stayed with his wife, despite all the revelations, Larry King replied, “I adore Billie Jean. I never stopped loving him, and that doesn’t translate to the possession, but by trying to do what makes her happiest, ”he said. Billie agreed.

“Larry and I have been through so much together,” she said. “And that in itself can bind you.”

Although Billie has officially been out of the closet for 13 years, she didn’t tell her mother she was gay until she was 51.

All in

Today King, 77, is considered a human rights pioneer. When she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the Oval Office in 2009, Barack Obama told her that the battle of the sexes had had a huge impact on him as a father.

“You don’t realize it, but I saw this game when I was 12,” he told her. “Now I have two daughters and it has made a difference in the way I raise them. ”

In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, Queens, which will host the upcoming US Open, was converted into the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in honor of the critical role it played in promoting parity between male and female play. and equality in general.

But King’s journey is not over.

“I told people that if I died now, I would be really annoyed because I didn’t finish,” she said.

“I haven’t finished fighting yet.”

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