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Morrissey reveals first relationship was with a man

In an expansive autobiography, Morrissey writes of his first love and the split up of The Smiths.

By Gabrielle Levy
Morrissey performs in concert at the Mizner Park Amphitheatre in Boca Raton Florida on July 14, 2007. (UPI Photo/Michael Bush)
1 of 2 | Morrissey performs in concert at the Mizner Park Amphitheatre in Boca Raton Florida on July 14, 2007. (UPI Photo/Michael Bush) | License Photo

(UPI) -- British singer Morrissey has been notoriously private about his personal life and his sexuality, so forthright revelations in "Autobiography," published Thursday, come as something of a surprise.

Morrissey details a two-year relationship with a man named Jake Owen Walters that began in 1994. The two met at a restaurant, where Walters "steps inside and stays for two years."

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While it's never explicitly stated whether the relationship was sexual -- speculation has considered that the singer might be asexual, not gay -- Morrissey writes about how "for the first time in my life the eternal 'I' becomes 'we', as, finally, I can get on with someone."

"Jake and I neither sought nor needed company other than our own for the whirlwind stretch to come," he wrote. "Indulgently Jake and I test how far each of us can go before 'being dwelt in' causes cries of intolerable struggle, but our closeness transcends such visitations."

Morrissey writes of taking delight in acting provocatively, not only in his music, but with the strangers he would meet.

In conversation with a woman at an airport, he writes: "'Well,' says the woman in the British Airways lounge, 'you're either very close brothers or lovers.' 'Can't brothers be lovers?' I imprudently reply -- always ready with the pointlessly pert, whether sensible or not."

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Girls, on the other hand, Morrissey had no answer for.

"Girls remained mysteriously attracted to me," he wrote, "and I had no idea why, since although each fumbling foray hit the target, nothing electrifying took place, and I turned a thousand corners without caring."

"Far more exciting were the array of stylish racing bikes that my father would bring home," he said.

And he had some harsh words for former bandmate Mike Joyce, with whom he battled in court over royalties after The Smiths' acrimonious split in 1987, and for the editor at NME magazine, who he said "allegedly called a staff meeting at which he has passed the command that his staff writers must now 'get Morrissey.'"

"Autobiography" hit shelves Thursday, after a month-long delay over what Morrissey called "a last-minute content disagreement."

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