The Evolution of the Side Piece: A Historical Perspective on Relationships

Herstory of Side-Piecing

Remember the movie the matrix, you know the one where the guy offers the other guy 2 pills; if he takes the blue pill, he forgets everything he’s learned about the matrix and is returned to a normal life, or the red one that frees him from the matrix and he becomes a bad-ass, kick- ass, hacker trying to defeat the system? Yeah, this post is not like that per say but it will offer 2 different views into relationships.

In modern society, we typically live our lives according to what our religious principals are. For me, I was raised Southern Missionary Baptist so needless to say, I was raised that men were this have all to end all possession that we don’t really possess… I’ll rephrase, women are nothing in life without a man and vice versa…

How I was raised is not how I chose to live my life, this is 2024, not 1824 or 1724… History has determined that women are fully capable of holding down jobs, keeping house, and simultaneously raising children and in some instances their husbands as well. Also, this is a day and time where we do see more single fathers with full custody then we have seen in years past, so needless to say, in a modern time, both men and women can be bread winners! This statement has not necessarily been true for all of history, but we can state this for the recent history right…

Regardless of the tone of my introduction, this is not a man slamming post! It’s simply something random I researched simply because I was going through an antisemic moment with relationships. But I digress…

Through out history, there has been numerous examples of what happens when a relationship goes left. in more recent times, women have been the downfall to several politicians, the blame for the attack on monogamy, the state of our economy, and other random rants I’ve seen on Facebook. This got me to thinking… Who are the top 5 side pieces in history for both men and women? Well, for shits and giggles, I’m going to list them below:

Anne Bolyn: King Henry VIII’s second wife

History is wild. Anne Bolyn comes in at #5 for the women. Her claim to fame is she was King Henry VIII’s second wife. If you are into the Tudors, you know that King Henry VIII wanted 1 thing… a Legitimate heir. His first wife Queen Catherine of Argon had a daughter, and one of his concubines had a son, but he wanted one from the Queen. In steps Anne Bolyn. Originally hired as one of the Maid of Honor on the Queen’s court, Anne was wooed and courted by King Henry VIII, but refused to sleep with him because he was married at first. After they connected, King Henry VIII then launched a campaign to get the Catholic church to grant him a divorce stating that his marriage to Queen Catherine was not legit. This battle then separated England from the Catholic church creating the Church of England so he could have a divorce. He then married Anne, and they had a daughter, Elizabeth I. Spoiler alert, Anne was tried and beheaded after she was accused of having an affair with her cousin then charged with treason. King Henry VIII then married his 3rd wife Jane after Anne’s death…

Napoleon Bonaparte

The French explorer was reportedly smitten when he met 32-year-old widow Josphine de Beauharnais at a dinner party back in 1795. Josphine was 6 or 7 years older than he was and their love letters were juicy and notoriously sexy. I mean who could blame him, he was got by a cougar in the 1700’s. Just as their love was rumored to be juicy, their relation was scandalous with adultery on both sides. Napoleon later had his marriage annulled from Josphine to marry Marie Louise. Apparently, he grew annoyed with Josphine’s spending, and desperately needed an heir.

Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd

What is it with powerful men and secretaries?! Coming in at #4 is Lucy Mercer Rutherfurd. Who is this you may ask? Well, Lucy was the side chick to FDR during his road to office and for some of WWI, and remained close to him until his death, it’s even rumored that she was present when he passed. Lucy was originally hired as the first lady’s secretary then fired once the affair was discovered.

Paris of Troy

Does anybody remember the Trojan war, or hearing stories of the Trojan war, Achilles, the large horse? What about the movie Troy with Brad Pit in a Toga for 90% of it, (he was naked for the other 10% so if you like beautiful men, you remember!) Paris makes this list because, well, he simply met a beautiful woman named Helen, kidnapped her (or they eloped, depends on which version of the story you believe) and basically started a war with Greece for love. Helen was married to the king of the Achaeans and was also responsible for the death of their greatest warrior at the time.

Ashley Dupree

What does the Governer of NY have in common with an aspiring singer? Well, if you’ve read down this far, you can just about guess! In 2008, NY governor Eric Spitzer was caught with his pants down in a federal sting with an Escort agency called the Emperor’s club VIP. This story if you want to read it is salacious and I might post the wiki link below for more context. But the CliffsNotes are he was picked up on a wiretap ordering a night out in Washing with Dupree. He was overheard making the arrangements and even was caught making a payment for her services for that day and for future services at a later time. Once the shit hit the fan, Spitzer resigned his office in March of 2008.

Grigory Potemkin

History is wild yall! Coming in at #3 for the gentlemen is Russian Statesman Grigory Potemkin. He was the lover of Catherine the Great for a few years after her husband was assassinated, (rumor has it, she was culpable in the czar’s assassination during a political coup.) With Potemkin as an influence, Catherine the Great was able to expand the borders of Russia back in the 1700’s at a time when a woman’s capabilities were thought to be limited. Grigory remained a highly regarded statesman for about 17 years after Catherine moved on to other lovers.

Honorable Mentions

As you read at the beginning, this post is a two Parter! While researching for this, I ran across some other interesting historical gossip. The Last 2 mentioned in today’s post didn’t quite make the list as I could not find anything definitive, and I’ll start part 2 off with 2 more honorable mentions simply because the story was juicy!

Barbara Walters

What more can I say about a woman I grew up idolizing as at one point in time, I wanted to be a journalist! Well, Ms. Walters disclosed in her memoir that she had an elicit affair with Mass senator Edward Booke back in the 70’s. Can you imagine if this news broke back then?! Interracial relationships were a big no-no until the Supreme Court decided VA V. Loving in 1969. Ms. Walters was also romantically linked to Richard Pryor as well, but that wasn’t disclosed in her book.

Lorena Hickok

While researching for this post, I came across an article on a National Parks website for a play. In this article, I learned that Elenor Roosevelt also had an illicit affair with journalist Lorena Hickok. In this article, the journalist had stated that they found hundreds of letters in the FDR library in New York, and that Lorena Hickok had willed her correspondence to the library as well. This could be a future rabbit hole! Who is Lorena Hickok, you ask… Well, she was the first woman to receive a front-page by-line for the NY times!