Merv Griffin — How Gay Showbiz Legend Was Outed By Sexual Harassment Cases

Merv Griffin spent decades as a beloved talk-show host — but the gay game-show mogul was also a pioneer in Hollywood sexual-harassment cases!

Merv had spent 24 years as the beloved host of "The Merv Griffin Show" after starting his career as a crooner, and made millions as the mastermind behind "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune." But the entertainer spent his later career trying to protect his fortune from lawsuits filed by men saying that Merv had molested them in the workplace!

The star had spent decades covering up his sexuality — and even married comedienne Julann Wright, who gave him a son. The couple divorced in 1976. "The more drawn into the Hollywood trappings he became," said an insider, "the more he realized his real sexual attraction was to men. By the early '70s, he began having gay affairs."

Merv later dated Eva Gabor and Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia  while pursuing his private passions — but his secret life went public when an employee of Merv Griffin Productions filed a palimony suit. Brent Plott asked for $ 250 million palimony suit in 1991, saying: "I gave him sex, companionship, emotional support and anything else he wanted. I traveled the world with him as a sexual plaything."

A judge later dismissed Plott's suit — but months after that legal volley, another one of Griffin's male employees filed an $11.3 million sexual harassment suit against him. "Merv Griffin made my life a living hell for seven years," charged Deney Terrio, who had hosted Merv's TV show "Dance Fever" between 1979 to 1985.

    "He molested me every chance he could get," said Deney, who had found fame with "Saturday Night Fever" as John Travolta's dance coach. "It was disgusting, horrifying. I lived in absolute fear of the man." Merv responded by saying that Terrio's lawsuit as "totally false" and "outrageous."

Once again, the case was thrown out of court as Merv struggled to stay in the closet. Following the death of his close friend Ronald Reagan, Merv even sought to take care of Nancy Reagan — and reportedly offered to marry her!

But before his 2007 death from prostate cancer, Merv had become more comfortable with his sexuality. "I tell everybody that I'm a quartersexual," he joked to the New York Times in 2005. "I'll do anything with anybody for a quarter!"