If you’re like most us here at I Love Old School Music…raise your hand if you were today-years-old when you learned Bobby Cannavale even knew Lena Horne, let alone knew that he was bonded to her on a family level? If so, no worries…we got’chu ILOSM fam.’

How Bobby Cannavale Is Connection To Lena Horne

Here it is…Bobby is Lena Horne’s former grandson-in-law of 9 years…and his son is a biracial brotha.

So, here’s the deal with their family history…Bobby Cannavale was married to Lena Horne’s — and her former husband, iconic film director, Sidney Lumet’s — granddaughter, Jenny Lumet, from 1994 to 2003. Jenny is the daughter of Lena’s and Sidney’s daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley.

Although Jenny and Bobby’s 9-year marriage didn’t last for the long haul, they remained equal co-parents to their son…who has now made a name for himself in the acting game. Check him out below…

So Who Is Lena Horne’s Famous Great-Grandson And Bobby’s Son?

If you’ve ever watched the hit series, “The Mandolorian,” “Nurse Jackie,” and most recently, “The Offer” — you’ll probably recognize actor, Jake Cannavale.

Although many fans have oftentimes mistaken Jake’s racial makeup as being White, he is actually a biracial brotha. He’s the 28-year-old son of Bobby Cannavale and Jenny Lumet as well, making him Lena Horne’s and Sidney Lumet’s great-grandbaby.

So, their family dynamic is like a superstar trifecta. Ain’t that somethin’?!!

The Details Of Their Family’s Talent Are Insane

Lena is an icon in every sense of the word. The late Sidney Lumet directed the iconic classic film, The Wiz, among others.

Their granddaughter, Jenny Lumet (56), is not only an actress, but also a screenwriter, director, and film producer, who’s worked on several projects throughout the years, including “Star Trek: Discovery, “Rachel Getting Married, “The Mummy,” and more. And Bobby Cannavale (53) has starred in a plethora of films and television series, with one of his most recent projects co-starring in Netflix’s hit film, “Old Dads.”

The crazy part is that Bobby got his foot in the industry through marriage. His first two film roles were directed by Lena Horne’s then-husband, Sidney Lumet, who just so happens to be the maternal grandpa of Bobby’s son. Talk about family connections!

So, next time you see Jake Cannavale on the big screen, remember the incredible lineage he hails from. It’s a reminder that Hollywood dynasties are real, and sometimes, talent truly does run in the blood. Lena and Sidney would be beyond proud of her family right about now!

The post This Actor And His Celebrity-Son’s Family Ties To Lena Horne Made Our Jaws Drop appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We wanted to feature this story because we think that there’s something to be learned from it. You see, our beloved Lena Horne was known to be a very dedicated civil rights activist who spoke out against injustices against minorities which she, too, oftentimes experienced. She was an actress and singer who paved the way for many other African American entertainers to follow in her footsteps. That’s partly why some of her fans were confused when she married her Caucasian husband, Lennie Hayton, back in the day.

Ms. Horne later did an interview in 1980, where she publicly admitted a brutally honest truth about why she married music composer, Lennie. They were secretly married in 1947, up until his death in 1971.

The shocking revelation that Lena revealed to both Time Magazine and Ebony is that she eventually loved her husband, but was never in love with him, and that she used their marriage for her own personal gain. Here’s what she said: (via Ebony)

Embed from Getty Images

In the event that you changed your mind [about getting married for a third time], would you consider marrying another white man, provided he had all of the qualities you mentioned?
Lena: “I don’t think so.”

Is that because marrying a white man for the second time would leave you open to criticism from Blacks that you don’t consider Black men good enough for you?
Lena: “No. That wouldn’t be the reason at all. You must know that in the beginning I didn’t marry Lennie [her deceased Caucasian husband] because I was in love with him. I respected him because he knew a lot of music and I knew that I had to learn how to sing. I callously realized that I would have to associate with a white person to get the things I wanted professionally. It was just that I was alone and I had two children and I was gonna take care of them.”

In other words, to put it quite bluntly, you used him to further your career.
Lena: “That’s right. And I learned to love him very much. It turned out to be a perfect marriage. We were both on the stage together. He wrote all my music and he was very supportive. I was leaning on him. But in spite of all that, racially I have never been any different than I was in the beginning. Over the years I have not learned to love white people any more or any less. I am not that crazy about any race as a whole, but I tend to care more for my own. I just happen to feel more in my own skin with Black people.”

Embed from Getty Images

Lena also told Time Magazine this about her decision to use her husband’s race for career advancement:

“It was cold-blooded and deliberate. I married him [Lennie Hayton] because he could get me into places a Black man couldn’t. But I really learned to love him. He was beautiful, just so damned good.”

Now here’s another thing she revealed about seeing her Mother date a white man when she was a kid:
Lena: “I really never had a mother. She and my father separated when I was three. She went to work as an entertainer with a Black stock company and had to be away from me a lot. She didn’t allow my father to be with me. So their relationship colored my life. I wanted both and I couldn’t have either. Finally when my mother came back to be with me when I was 15, she brought a white husband with her. But I always had been with Black people. So it was a rough go for me and I withdrew. So the outside-whatever looked good and success I supposedly had [throughout my career] never quite made up for all that.”

She admitted that she never liked dating younger men and that she preferred older men who were intelligent, because she felt that she was always searching for her father in a sense.

Okay ILOSM fam’ let’s dig into this for a minute. Of course what Lena Horne did- by using her Caucasian husband- was wrong and her admission doesn’t justify her actions. However, it’s worth noting that in the racially segregated 1940’s, she did what she unfortunately felt she needed to do in order to advance as a Black entertainer and along the way, she opened a lot of doors for other Black entertainers.

So the question is this: Is it better to follow the feeling of the heart, or the strategy of the mind?

Sound off ILOSM fam’ and tell us your thoughts on this one.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post Lena Horne Once Confessed Harsh Truth Of How She Used Husband In Her Interracial Marriage appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Janet Jackson was once signed on with ABC and the late, great Lena Horne to star as Lena in a biopic. According to reports, Ms. Horne was originally very pleased that Janet was going to play her, she thought very highly of ‘Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty.’ Needless to say our girl, Janet, was equally thrilled after landing the part of such a huge icon that she grew up admiring.

ABC got the ball rolling and things were about to get started with production…Janet had even paid homage to Lena, by wearing vintage makeup up that was similar to Lena Horne’s style on the cover of Vanity Fair back in the day. So what was the problem? How did it go from major anticipation, to Ms. Horne. apparently giving a resounding “Hell no!” to Janet (well, maybe not in those exact words, but from the way it went down, it seems like that’s what she probably wanted to say). See how this hold thing unraveled faster than you could say “Stormy Weather” (for our younger old schoolers, that’s a classic Lena Horne song)…

Blame The Superbowl?

You can blame Lena Horne’s change of heart on Janet’s “Nipplegate” scandal, as reported by several major news outlets at that time. Remember that whole Superbowl ‘slip-up’ in 2004? Well, after Janet had that infamous ‘Superbowl wardrobe malfunction’ –when Justin tapped Janet’s right breast and made it pop out of her shirt on national TV — Lena was reportedly furious and said she no longer wanted any parts of the Janet Jackson business.

Lena and her daughter, Gail, reportedly got the wheels churning to get Janet outta there:

Via Today: ABC executives resisted Horne’s demand, but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part.

Technically, Lena didn’t have 100% control over who gets fired from the film, because ABC had to be willing to agree to it as well. So Lena and Gail went to ABC to demand that they let Janet go, but ABC was allegedly like, ‘No way!’…especially with the amount of publicity Janet had
just stirred up with her Superbowl stunt.

Therefore, Lena and her daughter reportedly did the next best thing- took their concerns straight to Janet. They had a talk and explained to Janet that Lena didn’t approve of Janet’s raunchy stunt. Lena then simply requested for Janet to pull out of the film. Janet complied and contacted ABC. So although there have been two separate rumors about this — that Lena fired her; and that Janet quit — in essence it was more like Lena said ‘Janet I don’t want you to step foot on the set of my biopic’ and Janet was like ‘Well fine, I’m out…peace.’

And that’s how the Lena Horne biopic situation all went down ILOSM family. But there’s more…

More Trouble Emerged For Janet

Janet had a few other projects that came to a screeching halt after that ‘Nipplegate’ scandal: Janet was supposed to present an award at the Grammy’s that same year and CBS allegedly told her ‘No’ (they allowed Justin Timberlake to still appear though, go figure); Disney World’s theme park even yanked Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” jacket off a Mickey Mouse statue which was originally paying homage to Janet’s legacy.

It’s been years since Janet’s stunt and Timberlake is determined to stick to his story- that it was a “wardrobe malfunction,” while according to an MTV exec,’ Janet, Justin, and MTV all knew about the planned breast slip prior to the show. Here’s what they reported at the time (in 2004):

‘”Janet Jackson engineered it,” MTV Chief Executive Tom Freston told Reuters in an interview.
Freston, whose company produced the halftime show for CBS, said Timberlake was informed of the stunt just moments before he took the stage with Jackson. The stunt, which Timberlake said was due to a “wardrobe malfunction,” sparked widespread viewer complaints.

“There’s now going to be an FCC investigation into the nipple,” Freston told reporters at a news conference.

Jackson took the blame: “The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my half-time show performance was made after final rehearsals. MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did.”‘ -via Daily Mail

At least Janet has moved on from her Superbowl scandal. These days she’s loving life with her son, Eissa, who was born in January 2017. Props to Janet for giving birth at 50!

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

Source

The post Was Not Having That: Lena Horne Axed Janet Jackson From Her Biopic After Controversy? appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We wanted to feature this story because we think that there’s something to be learned from it. You see, our beloved Lena Horne was known to be a very dedicated civil rights activist who spoke out against injustices against minorities which she, too, oftentimes experienced. She was an actress and singer who paved the way for many other African American entertainers to follow in her footsteps. That’s partly why some of her fans were confused when she married her Caucasian husband, Lennie Hayton, back in the day.

Ms. Horne later did an interview in 1980, where she publicly admitted a brutally honest truth about why she married music composer, Lennie. They were secretly married in 1947, up until his death in 1971.

The shocking revelation that Lena revealed to both Time Magazine and Ebony is that she eventually loved her husband, but was never in love with him, and that she used their marriage for her own personal gain. Here’s what she said: (via Ebony)

Embed from Getty Images

In the event that you changed your mind [about getting married for a third time], would you consider marrying another white man, provided he had all of the qualities you mentioned?
Lena: “I don’t think so.”

Is that because marrying a white man for the second time would leave you open to criticism from Blacks that you don’t consider Black men good enough for you?
Lena: “No. That wouldn’t be the reason at all. You must know that in the beginning I didn’t marry Lennie [her deceased Caucasian husband] because I was in love with him. I respected him because he knew a lot of music and I knew that I had to learn how to sing. I callously realized that I would have to associate with a white person to get the things I wanted professionally. It was just that I was alone and I had two children and I was gonna take care of them.”

In other words, to put it quite bluntly, you used him to further your career.
Lena: “That’s right. And I learned to love him very much. It turned out to be a perfect marriage. We were both on the stage together. He wrote all my music and he was very supportive. I was leaning on him. But in spite of all that, racially I have never been any different than I was in the beginning. Over the years I have not learned to love white people any more or any less. I am not that crazy about any race as a whole, but I tend to care more for my own. I just happen to feel more in my own skin with Black people.”

Embed from Getty Images

Lena also told Time Magazine this about her decision to use her husband’s race for career advancement:

“It was cold-blooded and deliberate. I married him [Lennie Hayton] because he could get me into places a Black man couldn’t. But I really learned to love him. He was beautiful, just so damned good.”

Now here’s another thing she revealed about seeing her Mother date a white man when she was a kid:
Lena: “I really never had a mother. She and my father separated when I was three. She went to work as an entertainer with a Black stock company and had to be away from me a lot. She didn’t allow my father to be with me. So their relationship colored my life. I wanted both and I couldn’t have either. Finally when my mother came back to be with me when I was 15, she brought a white husband with her. But I always had been with Black people. So it was a rough go for me and I withdrew. So the outside-whatever looked good and success I supposedly had [throughout my career] never quite made up for all that.”

She admitted that she never liked dating younger men and that she preferred older men who were intelligent, because she felt that she was always searching for her father in a sense.

Okay ILOSM fam’ let’s dig into this for a minute. Of course what Lena Horne did- by using her Caucasian husband- was wrong and her admission doesn’t justify her actions. However, it’s worth noting that in the racially segregated 1940’s, she did what she unfortunately felt she needed to do in order to advance as a Black entertainer and along the way, she opened a lot of doors for other Black entertainers.

So the question is this: Is it better to follow the feeling of the heart, or the strategy of the mind?

Sound off ILOSM fam’ and tell us your thoughts on this one.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post Lena Horne Confessed Harsh Truth About How She Used Husband In Her Interracial Marriage appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

Janet Jackson was once signed on with ABC and the late, great Lena Horne to star as Lena in a biopic. According to reports, Ms. Horne was originally very pleased that Janet was going to play her, she thought very highly of ‘Ms. Jackson if you’re nasty.’ Needless to say our girl, Janet, was equally thrilled after landing the part of such a huge icon that she grew up admiring.

ABC got the ball rolling and things were about to get started with production…Janet had even paid homage to Lena, by wearing vintage makeup up that was similar to Lena Horne’s style on the cover of Vanity Fair back in the day. So what was the problem? How did it go from major anticipation, to Ms. Horne. apparently giving a resounding “Hell no!” to Janet (well, maybe not in those exact words, but from the way it went down, it seems like that’s what she probably wanted to say). See how this hold thing unraveled faster than you could say “Stormy Weather” (for our younger old schoolers, that’s a classic Lena Horne song)…

Blame The Superbowl?

You can blame Lena Horne’s change of heart on Janet’s “Nipplegate” scandal, as reported by several major news outlets at that time. Remember that whole Superbowl ‘slip-up’ in 2004? Well, after Janet had that infamous ‘Superbowl wardrobe malfunction’ –when Justin tapped Janet’s right breast and made it pop out of her shirt on national TV — Lena was reportedly furious and said she no longer wanted any parts of the Janet Jackson business.

Lena and her daughter, Gail, reportedly got the wheels churning to get Janet outta there:

Via Today: ABC executives resisted Horne’s demand, but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part.

Technically, Lena didn’t have 100% control over who gets fired from the film, because ABC had to be willing to agree to it as well. So Lena and Gail went to ABC to demand that they let Janet go, but ABC was allegedly like, ‘No way!’…especially with the amount of publicity Janet had
just stirred up with her Superbowl stunt.

Therefore, Lena and her daughter reportedly did the next best thing- took their concerns straight to Janet. They had a talk and explained to Janet that Lena didn’t approve of Janet’s raunchy stunt. Lena then simply requested for Janet to pull out of the film. Janet complied and contacted ABC. So although there have been two separate rumors about this — that Lena fired her; and that Janet quit — in essence it was more like Lena said ‘Janet I don’t want you to step foot on the set of my biopic’ and Janet was like ‘Well fine, I’m out…peace.’

And that’s how the Lena Horne biopic situation all went down ILOSM family. But there’s more…

More Trouble Emerged For Janet

Janet had a few other projects that came to a screeching halt after that ‘Nipplegate’ scandal: Janet was supposed to present an award at the Grammy’s that same year and CBS allegedly told her ‘No’ (they allowed Justin Timberlake to still appear though, go figure); Disney World’s theme park even yanked Janet Jackson’s “Rhythm Nation” jacket off a Mickey Mouse statue which was originally paying homage to Janet’s legacy.

It’s been years since Janet’s stunt and Timberlake is determined to stick to his story- that it was a “wardrobe malfunction,” while according to an MTV exec,’ Janet, Justin, and MTV all knew about the planned breast slip prior to the show. Here’s what they reported at the time (in 2004):

‘”Janet Jackson engineered it,” MTV Chief Executive Tom Freston told Reuters in an interview.
Freston, whose company produced the halftime show for CBS, said Timberlake was informed of the stunt just moments before he took the stage with Jackson. The stunt, which Timberlake said was due to a “wardrobe malfunction,” sparked widespread viewer complaints.

“There’s now going to be an FCC investigation into the nipple,” Freston told reporters at a news conference.

Jackson took the blame: “The decision to have a costume reveal at the end of my half-time show performance was made after final rehearsals. MTV was completely unaware of it. It was not my intention that it go as far as it did.”‘ -via Daily Mail

At least Janet has moved on from her Superbowl scandal. These days she’s loving life with her son, Eissa, who was born in January 2017. Props to Janet for giving birth at 50!

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

Source

The post Was Not Having It: Lena Horne Axed Janet Jackson From Her Biopic After Controversy? appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We wanted to feature this story because we think that there’s something to be learned from it. You see, our beloved Lena Horne was known to be a very dedicated civil rights activist who spoke out against injustices against minorities which she, too, oftentimes experienced. She was an actress and singer who paved the way for many other African American entertainers to follow in her footsteps. That’s partly why some of her fans were confused when she married her Caucasian husband, Lennie Hayton, back in the day.

Ms. Horne later did an interview in 1980, where she publicly admitted a brutally honest truth about why she married music composer, Lennie. They were secretly married in 1947, up until his death in 1971.

The shocking revelation that Lena revealed to both Time Magazine and Ebony is that she eventually loved her husband, but was never in love with him, and that she used their marriage for her own personal gain. Here’s what she said: (via Ebony Magazine)

Embed from Getty Images

In the event that you changed your mind [about getting married for a third time], would you consider marrying another White man, provided he had all of the qualities you mentioned?
Lena: “I don’t think so.”

Is that because marrying a White man for the second time would leave you open to criticism from Blacks that you don’t consider Black men good enough for you?
Lena: “No. That wouldn’t be the reason at all. You must know that in the beginning I didn’t marry Lennie [her deceased Caucasian husband] because I was in love with him. I respected him because he knew a lot of music and I knew that I had to learn how to sing. I callously realized that I would have to associate with a White person to get the things I wanted professionally. It was just that I was alone and I had two children and I was gonna take care of them.”

In other words, to put it quite bluntly, you used him to further your career.
Lena: “That’s right. And I learned to love him very much. It turned out to be a perfect marriage. We were both on the stage together. He wrote all my music and he was very supportive. I was leaning on him. But in spite of all that, racially I have never been any different than I was in the beginning. Over the years I have not learned to love White people any more or any less. I am not that crazy about any race as a whole, but I tend to care more for my own. I just happen to feel more in my own skin with Black people.”

Embed from Getty Images

Lena also told Time Magazine this about her decision to use her husband’s race for career advancement:

“It was cold-blooded and deliberate. I married him [Lennie Hayton] because he could get me into places a Black man couldn’t. But I really learned to love him. He was beautiful, just so damned good.”

Now here’s another thing she revealed about seeing her Mother date a White man when she was a kid:
Lena: “I really never had a mother. She and my father separated when I was three. She went to work as an entertainer with a Black stock company and had to be away from me a lot. She didn’t allow my father to be with me. So their relationship colored my life. I wanted both and I couldn’t have either. Finally when my mother came back to be with me when I was 15, she brought a White husband with her. But I always had been with Black people. So it was a rough go for me and I withdrew. So the outside-whatever looked good and success I supposedly had [throughout my career] never quite made up for all that.”

She admitted that she never liked dating younger men and that she preferred older men who were intelligent, because she felt that she was always searching for her father in a sense.

Okay ILOSM fam’ let’s dig into this for a minute. Of course what Lena Horne did- by using her Caucasian husband- was wrong and her admission doesn’t justify her actions. However, it’s worth noting that in the racially segregated 1940’s, she did what she unfortunately felt she needed to do in order to advance as a Black entertainer and along the way, she opened a lot of doors for other Black entertainers.

So the question is this: Is it better to follow the feeling of the heart, or the strategy of the mind?

Sound off ILOSM fam’ and tell us your thoughts on this one.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post Lena Horne Once Confessed Harsh Truth About How She ‘Used’ Her White Husband appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We wanted to feature this story because we think that there’s something to be learned from it. You see, our beloved Lena Horne was known to be a very dedicated civil rights activist who spoke out against injustices against minorities which she, too, oftentimes experienced. She was an actress and singer who paved the way for many other African American entertainers to follow in her footsteps. That’s partly why some of her fans were confused when she married her Caucasian husband, Lennie Hayton, back in the day.

Ms. Horne later did an interview in 1980, where she publicly admitted a brutally honest truth about why she married music composer, Lennie. They were secretly married in 1947, up until his death in 1971.

The shocking revelation that Lena revealed to both Time Magazine and Ebony is that she eventually loved her husband, but was never in love with him, and that she used their marriage for her own personal gain. Here’s what she said: (via Ebony)

Embed from Getty Images

In the event that you changed your mind [about getting married for a third time], would you consider marrying another white man, provided he had all of the qualities you mentioned?
Lena: “I don’t think so.”

Is that because marrying a white man for the second time would leave you open to criticism from Blacks that you don’t consider Black men good enough for you?
Lena: “No. That wouldn’t be the reason at all. You must know that in the beginning I didn’t marry Lennie [her deceased Caucasian husband] because I was in love with him. I respected him because he knew a lot of music and I knew that I had to learn how to sing. I callously realized that I would have to associate with a white person to get the things I wanted professionally. It was just that I was alone and I had two children and I was gonna take care of them.”

In other words, to put it quite bluntly, you used him to further your career.
Lena: “That’s right. And I learned to love him very much. It turned out to be a perfect marriage. We were both on the stage together. He wrote all my music and he was very supportive. I was leaning on him. But in spite of all that, racially I have never been any different than I was in the beginning. Over the years I have not learned to love white people any more or any less. I am not that crazy about any race as a whole, but I tend to care more for my own. I just happen to feel more in my own skin with Black people.”

Embed from Getty Images

Lena also told Time Magazine this about her decision to use her husband’s race for career advancement:

“It was cold-blooded and deliberate. I married him [Lennie Hayton] because he could get me into places a Black man couldn’t. But I really learned to love him. He was beautiful, just so damned good.”

Now here’s another thing she revealed about seeing her Mother date a white man when she was a kid:
Lena: “I really never had a mother. She and my father separated when I was three. She went to work as an entertainer with a Black stock company and had to be away from me a lot. She didn’t allow my father to be with me. So their relationship colored my life. I wanted both and I couldn’t have either. Finally when my mother came back to be with me when I was 15, she brought a white husband with her. But I always had been with Black people. So it was a rough go for me and I withdrew. So the outside-whatever looked good and success I supposedly had [throughout my career] never quite made up for all that.”

She admitted that she never liked dating younger men and that she preferred older men who were intelligent, because she felt that she was always searching for her father in a sense.

Okay ILOSM fam’ let’s dig into this for a minute. Of course what Lena Horne did- by using her Caucasian husband- was wrong and her admission doesn’t justify her actions. However, it’s worth noting that in the racially segregated 1940’s, she did what she unfortunately felt she needed to do in order to advance as a Black entertainer and along the way, she opened a lot of doors for other Black entertainers.

So the question is this: Is it better to follow the feeling of the heart, or the strategy of the mind?

Sound off ILOSM fam’ and tell us your thoughts on this one.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post Lena Horne Confessed Harsh Truth About How She Used Husband In Her Interracial Marriage appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

The post See Why Lena Horne Booted Janet From Her Biopic appeared first on I Love Old School Music.

We wanted to feature this story because we think that there’s something to be learned from it. You see, our beloved Lena Horne was known to be a very dedicated civil rights activist who spoke out against injustices against minorities which she, too, oftentimes experienced. She was an actress and singer who paved the way for many other African American entertainers to follow in her footsteps. That’s partly why some of her fans were confused when she married her Caucasian husband, Lennie Hayton, back in the day.

Ms. Horne later did an interview in 1980, where she publicly admitted a brutally honest truth about why she married music composer, Lennie. They were secretly married in 1947, up until his death in 1971.

The shocking revelation that Lena revealed to both Time Magazine and Ebony is that she eventually loved her husband, but was never in love with him, and that she used their marriage for her own personal gain. Here’s what she said: (via Ebony)

In the event that you changed your mind [about getting married for a third time], would you consider marrying another White man, provided he had all of the qualities you mentioned?
Lena: “I don’t think so.”

Is that because marrying a White man for the second time would leave you open to criticism from Blacks that you don’t consider Black men good enough for you?
Lena: “No. That wouldn’t be the reason at all. You must know that in the beginning I didn’t marry Lennie [her deceased Caucasian husband] because I was in love with him. I respected him because he knew a lot of music and I knew that I had to learn how to sing. I callously realized that I would have to associate with a White person to get the things I wanted professionally. It was just that I was alone and I had two children and I was gonna take care of them.”

In other words, to put it quite bluntly, you used him to further your career.
Lena: “That’s right. And I learned to love him very much. It turned out to be a perfect marriage. We were both on the stage together. He wrote all my music and he was very supportive. I was leaning on him. But in spite of all that, racially I have never been any different than I was in the beginning. Over the years I have not learned to love White people any more or any less. I am not that crazy about any race as a whole, but I tend to care more for my own. I just happen to feel more in my own skin with Black people.”

Embed from Getty Images

Lena also told Time Magazine this about her decision to use her husband’s race for career advancement:

“It was cold-blooded and deliberate. I married him [Lennie Hayton] because he could get me into places a Black man couldn’t. But I really learned to love him. He was beautiful, just so damned good.”

Now here’s another thing she revealed about seeing her Mother date a White man when she was a kid:
Lena: “I really never had a mother. She and my father separated when I was three. She went to work as an entertainer with a Black stock company and had to be away from me a lot. She didn’t allow my father to be with me. So their relationship colored my life. I wanted both and I couldn’t have either. Finally when my mother came back to be with me when I was 15, she brought a White husband with her. But I always had been with Black people. So it was a rough go for me and I withdrew. So the outside-whatever looked good and success I supposedly had [throughout my career] never quite made up for all that.”

She admitted that she never liked dating younger men and that she preferred older men who were intelligent, because she felt that she was always searching for her father in a sense.

Okay ILOSM fam’ let’s dig into this for a minute. Of course what Lena Horne did- by using her Caucasian husband- was wrong and her admission doesn’t justify her actions. However, it’s worth noting that in the racially segregated 1940’s, she did what she unfortunately felt she needed to do in order to advance as a Black entertainer and along the way, she opened a lot of doors for other Black entertainers.

So the question is this: Is it better to follow the feeling of the heart, or the strategy of the mind?

Sound off ILOSM fam’ and tell us your thoughts on this one.

-ILoveOldSchoolMusic, Old School news with a new point of view

The post Lena Horne Confessed Harsh Truth About How She Used Her White Husband appeared first on I Love Old School Music.