Gaynor was rumored to be bisexual and Adrian was openly gay within the Hollywood community, and it is assumed their relationship was a lavender marriage mandated by the studio system. Hollywood film actress Janet Gaynor and costume designer Adrian were married from 1939 until his death in 1959, and had a son together.Swedish Hollywood actor Nils Asther and vaudeville entertainer Vivian Duncan had a brief marriage of convenience that resulted in one child Asther was a well known homosexual who had a relationship with actor/stuntman Kenneth DuMain.She appeared only in productions he directed, and they lived together in their Manhattan townhouse until his death in 1961. American theater actress and producer Katharine Cornell married stage director Guthrie McClintic in 1921.The term has been applied to the marriage of Tyrone Power and French actress Annabella in 1939.Gates insisted until the time of her own death that she had had no idea the marriage was anything other than legitimate. Actor Rock Hudson, troubled by rumors that Confidential magazine was planning to expose his homosexuality, married Phyllis Gates, a young woman employed by his agent, in 1955.The marriage of Robert Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck supposedly disguised the purported bisexuality of both and has been characterized as lavender for that reason, but it was prompted by the need to protect both their reputations after a Photoplay magazine article reported they had been living together for years while unmarried.The English broadcaster and journalist Nancy Spain considered entering a lavender marriage to disguise her relationship with Joan Werner Laurie, a magazine and book editor.The term lavender marriage has been used to characterize the following couples/individuals:
Because of this, lavender marriages between celebrities became less common. The end of the 20th century brought about a change for the LGBTQ+ community, particularly after the 1969 Stonewall riots. Lavender marriages were also a way to preserve the public's image of a celebrity, especially if these celebrities were famous for their looks or sex appeal. These clauses placed actors in a difficult situation as they put their livelihoods on the line and essentially pressured them into lavender marriages. Universal Film Company justified their actions by labeling the actor's behavior as unacceptable this included having attractions that were not heterosexual. Some companies punished actors for defying these clauses by not paying them. He refused to end his relationship with his male partner, Jimmy Shields, and enter into a marriage at the direction of his studio employer, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. A noteworthy exception that demonstrated the precarious position of the public homosexual was that of William Haines, who brought his career to a sudden end at the age of 35.
With the inclusion of morality clauses in the contracts of Hollywood actors in the 1920s, some closeted stars contracted marriages of convenience to protect their public reputations and preserve their careers.