Lou Reed’s Transvestite ‘Live-In Boyfriend’ Died Of AIDS, Years After Split From Star
July 5 2018, Updated 5:38 p.m. ET
For years before his sudden 2013 death, there had been rumors about musician Lou Reed’s sexuality. After his marriage to Betty ended, his next significant relationship was with a transvestite named Rachel.
“Rachel was his live-in boyfriend for a long time. Lou always referred to Rachel as a girl, although he wasn’t trans, he was definitely a boy. But Lou was nuts about Rachel,” says former bandmate & friend, Allan Hyman in a teaser for REELZ’s new docuseries, Autopsy: Lou Reed.
After four years, however, their relationship fell apart and Rachel disappeared. Lou then went on to marry Sylva Morales, and later Laurie Anderson.
“Rachel as we know it, and as I’ve heard of it, died from AIDS in the early ‘90s,” says Lou Reed biographer Jeremy Reed.
Dr. Michael Hunter then appears in the clip, saying that after thoroughly analyzing Lou’s medical records and birth certificate, he found no evidence that he battled AIDS—but he did discover that he took a drug called Interferon as far back as the late ‘80s.
“This was a drug that was developed around that time to combat a range of illnesses but rose to prominence as a treatment for HIV, AIDS,” explains Dr. Michael Hunter.
So, if it wasn’t AIDS, what really killed Lou Reed?
Autopsy: Lou Reed airs Sunday, July 8 at 9:00 ET/ PT on REELZ.
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