Vivien Leigh was bisexual, claims new book

London: She became a part of film lore with her portrayal of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind but a new biography by Darwin Porter claims that Vivien Leigh was a "bisexual adulterer" with a taste for male prostitutes.

The Hollywood icon who was born in India to British parents, cheated on husband Lawrence Olivier with both men and women, according to Damn You, Scarlett O'Hara.

The memoir is by Darwin Porter, who knew the A Street Car Named Desire actress in the 1960s, and Roy Moseley, Olivier's former assistant.

Leigh's romance with Olivier was a fairytale that wowed 1930s Hollywood but the book brands it a sham, reported Daily Mail online.

Both of them were cheating on one another within months of becoming lovers in 1937, according to witness accounts.

In addition to flings with British actress Isabel Jeans and two other women, Leigh also cheated with co-stars Marlon Brando and Rex Harrison.

The biography describes in great length her insatiable appetite for "rough trade", male prostitutes picked up at Scotty's, a Los Angeles brothel that masqueraded as a petrol station.

"She depended on the professional discretion of men not to boast they had just serviced Scarlett O'Hara. Viv was once kicked out of an Italian hotel for bringing back too many 'street boys'," said a source.

Olivier married Miss Leigh in 1940 and they divorced in 1960. Leigh, who battled mental illness, died seven years later at the age of 53.