Author claims Hendrix faked being gay

Jimi Hendrix always said that he was discharged from the US Army in 1962 after breaking his ankle in a parachute jump with the 101st Airborne, but a new book has a different story. Author Charles Cross has written a biography titled Room Full Of Mirrors, and he claims that Hendrix actually pretended to be gay in order to get out of the service. Cross writes that Hendrix talked about being in love with another serviceman with Captain John Halbert, who was the base psychiatrist at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, and that Halbert recommended Hendrix be discharged because of his "homosexual tendencies." Cross told the Ireland On-line Website (iol.ie) that the information comes directly from Hendrix's military records, which an unnamed collector provided.

Cross points out that Hendrix certainly wasn't gay, considering the number of women he was with in later years, nor was his exit from the Army a political statement, since he was always an anti-communist and had no problem with the military escalation in Viet Nam. Hendrix simply wanted to play music, and he couldn't devote himself to that while still in the service.

Room Full Of Mirrors, which has just been published, is more about the life and times of Jimi Hendrix the man, an not an exploration of his music. Cross spent four years working on the book, and he claims to have access to Hendrix's personal letters and diaries, among other things.
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