Clarence Thomas has the reputation of a stern, laconic judge who takes his religion seriously. But among the Anita Hill accusations (via PBS NewsHour) were graphic claims that Thomas was into pornography and initiated lewd sexual discussions with women who caught his eye. Thomas denied that he had ever said any of these things, but a 2016 memoir by an ex-girlfriend of his suggests that, regardless of the veracity of the harassment accusations, there may have been some truth to the other claims.
First, some background. Clarence Thomas, per the Market Realist, married his high school sweetheart Kathy Grace Ambush in 1971. After one child, they divorced in 1984. Thomas, meanwhile, had begun a relationship with prosecutor Lillian McEwen in 1981 while he and his wife were separated. McEwen wrote a tell-all expose of the intimate details of their relationship.
According to the New York Post, McEwen was smitten with Thomas, whom she found seductive and romantic. But contrary to the stern image Thomas projects, she claimed that he loved to binge drink while dancing to R&B and — most sensationally — take part in threesomes, which was something that Anita Hill mentioned in her testimony, too. Now, it is unclear whether any of this is true. While Thomas does not appear to have commented on the book, McEwen has also never been sued over it. But the book certainly paints the justice in a truly untold light.
