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Before her memoir was published, the identity of her parents had long been rumored. Maltin said the truth was never truly public, however, until the memoir, in which Lewis describes her mother telling her the truth in 1966, years after Gable had died. In the book, Lewis said Young told her then: "'Well, he was your father. ... He was darling. Sweet and very gentle. ... He was married, so when I discovered I was pregnant with you, I was frantic and terrified. It would have ruined both our careers, a scandal like that.'" Lewis wrote in her book that Young wanted her to keep the secret. She described a heated argument with Young on Mother's Day in 1986, in which Young threatened to sue Lewis if a book came out that revealed the truth about Lewis' parentage. "'Leave this house. I never want to see you in my house again,'" Young said, Lewis recounted. "I refused to be dismissed that easily," Lewis wrote. "It all came pouring out
-- all the years of hurt and abandonment, all the feelings of not belonging, of being an outsider in my own family, years of repressed emotions that couldn't be contained any longer. The floodgates were opened and the words flowed unchecked." Lewis said she asked Young if she would "ever acknowledge to the world
that I am your child, and that Clark Gable is my father?' "'No. I will never acknowledge what I consider a mortal sin -- my mortal sin,'" Young replied, according to Lewis. Lewis' survivors include her daughter, three half brothers and her partner, Steve Rowland. Another memorial service is being planned for later this month in Los Angeles, McKinney said.
[Associated
Press;
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