One of the long-time rumors about Gavin Rossdale was that he was bisexual or gay. This rumor has come up repeatedly in the wake of Gavin’s split with Gwen Stefani, as have the rumors that Gavin is a dirty cheater in general. Back in 2009, Gavin’s former lover Marilyn (described as a male “cross-dressing pop star”) gave several interviews describing his relationship with Gavin back in the day. This happened years before Gavin even met Gwen. Marilyn claimed that he and Gavin had a five-year relationship, like they lived together and were romantically and sexually involved with each other. Gavin first denied Marilyn’s story flat-out, then Gavin admitted that he had a “one night thing” with Marilyn. Marilyn reacted by once again going to the press and reasserting that no, it wasn’t a one-night thing, it was a real relationship. Now, following Gavin and Gwen’s split, Marilyn has more to say.

Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale‘s split after 20 years together stunned fans, but not Rossdale’s gay lover! Cross-dressing pop star Marilyn told RadarOnline.com in an exclusive interview that the couple had struggled “for years” and Rossdale openly confessed their “issues” to his former boyfriend. According to Marilyn, Rossdale opened up about his marriage to Stefani in an hour-long intimate phone call shortly before they announced their split. But he says tensions were bubbling for much longer.

“It really isn’t that surprising,” Marilyn told Radar. “This has been going on for years. Well done to them for trying so long!”

The problem? Marilyn, born Peter Robinson, claims Rossdale has many “issues” surrounding his sexuality and the history of their affair. After a passionate gay relationship in the early 1980s, Rossdale dated women after finding fame. When Marilyn revealed their relationship in 2009, the Bush frontman denied the relationship, before admitting he had lied in 2010.

“He called our relationship an experimentation, indiscretion of youth,” Marilyn sniffed. “Our experiment went on for five years! If you don’t live in your own truth, whatever it may be, how can you be happy? You’re not at peace with yourself.”

Marilyn also alleges that Rossdale’s wife Stefani was uncomfortable with the dirty details of his past becoming public.

“She didn’t want to know or acknowledge certain things about him,” he claims. “She wanted to edit his past and he wanted to as well. But how do you go into a relationship and not be 100 percent honest? You can’t have an ongoing stable relationship being untruthful or unaccepting. I just don’t get it.”

In addition to the story of the Marilyn affair, Rossdale and Stefani’s relationship was rocked by the revelation in 2004 that he had fathered a love child, Daisy Lowe, with ex-girlfriend Pearl Lowe. Stefani was reportedly devastated at the time.

“If you’re not honest, and especially if you’re with someone who is extremely successful and in the public eye, it’ll come out of the woodwork,” Marilyn explained. “And I think the fact that Gavin couldn’t be upfront about certain things was the problem. I can imagine, if it were me [being blindsided by such revelations] I would go into over-snoop mode. I want to know where you’re going, how long you’re going, who’s the text from. I would be suspicious that the person wasn’t being honest with me. I can imagine Gwen would have a similar problem.”

[From Radar]

What do you think? My read is that Gavin is bisexual and he’s had many relationships (both romantic and sexual) with both sexes. And instead of just owning that and being sex-positive about his sexuality, he lied about it, misrepresented and spent the last two decades playing up another image entirely. I also think that Marilyn is kind of douchey to keep talking about this.

Photos courtesy of In Touch Weekly, WENN.