Hutton Dishes on Her Ex

May 9, 2001 -- The last year has been a rough one for model-actress Lauren Hutton, but that's nothing compared to her painful past. The toothy star has revealed that she was involved in a 20-year relationship with a man who spent her modeling fortune, cheated on her, and spread rumors that she was gay.

Hutton, 57, has made her first major interview since recovering from a near fatal motorcycle crash last fall a significant one. She tells Vanity Fair magazine the extraordinary tale of her relationship with Bob Williamson, who died almost four years ago, as a warning to other women who fall for father figures. "I had a shattered childhood with no father," Hutton said. "… I wanted a daddy so badly that nothing else mattered."

Hutton Happier Since Accident

Hutton spoke out for the first time about the 100-mph motorcycle crash that left her with multiple scars and unable to walk comfortably without a cane. She suffered broken bones, a punctured lung, and multiple cuts when she went off the road Oct. 21 during a celebrity motorcycle ride in the Nevada desert. "Since the accident, most of the time I'm more happy, more peaceful, more content than I've ever been in my life. I'm much more sane since this happened," Hutton told Vanity Fair.

Prior to the accident, Hutton said she was extremely angry and depressed about Williamson, whom she met at the age of 21. Williamson, whom Hutton called "Bob God," oversaw her career during a period when she was one of the most-recognized faces of the 1970s.

According to Hutton, Williamson controlled all of her money; she laments the $30 million she should be worth, had she put her earnings in the bank. "I used to sign entire checkbooks for Bob; he would pay everything. I never paid a bill till I was 47," she said, adding that her boyfriend squandered her fortune. "All my money from those years is gone," Hutton said.

When, at the age of 41, Hutton told Williamson she was ready to have children, "He blew up and said, 'I don't want to ever have children. I'm your baby.' That's when I started to unravel."

After Williamson died, Hutton talked to a few of his old girlfriends, who revealed that he had been cheating on her for years. Worse, Williamson had allegedly spread lies about Hutton's sexual orientation. "Apparently one of his girlfriends confronted him about me — he had never told her that we lived together — and he said, 'I'm bearding for her. She's a lesbian and she's going with Julie Christie.' I had never even met Julie Christie," Hutton said.

"For the last three years, I would have ripped open the root-cellar gates to hell just to smack him a few times," she said. "I don't want this to happen to other women."

Reuters contributed to this story.