Mink coats, diamond rings, fabulous cars – Liberace's ex-lover, Scott Thorson, opens up about the lavish lifestyle he shared with the extravagant performer on "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" until it all came crashing down.
"Although we had our differences, we had more good times than bad times," Thorson says in the above video. "Well, I mean it was a wonderful life. I was 16 years old, I was walking around with all these jewels -- you know, a million dollars worth of jewelry, 30 cars. I had more mink coats and diamonds than Elizabeth Taylor had."
At 20 years old, Thorson underwent plastic surgery to make him look like a young Liberace. "It was amazing, the resemblance afterwards -- the same chin, it was just amazing," he says. "I was so young, I would do anything that I could to please him. It was a very one-sided relationship. He could be very generous but he was very possessive."
"He's the one that started me on all the drugs," Thorson says. "Then when it got out of control, he just decided that he was going to discard me like a piece of trash. Cut off my credit cards, cut off all the cash."
In 1986, Thorson sued Liberace for $113 million in palimony -- the first same-sex palimony case filed in U.S. history. The case was reported to have been settled for $95,000. "The reason why I sued Liberace was because he threw me on the streets and I had nothing," Thorson says. "He called me a disgruntled employee. That I was a street hustler, that I was liar. That there was never a sexual relationship. That I was nothing but a gold digger. And I was just a young kid.
"He was 48 years my senior," Thorson says. "He knew better."
Thorson has written a tell-all book about his relationship with Liberace, Behind the Candelabra. Earlier this year it was turned into an HBO film starring Matt Damon as Thorson and Michael Douglas as Liberace. The night it premiered, May 26, 2013, Thorson was in a Nevada jail waiting to be sentenced on burglary and identity theft charges. Dennis Hof, owner of the famous Moonlite Bunny Ranch Brothel, heard about Thorson's situation and bailed him out of jail. Hof told "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" that he wanted to help Thorson. "We've got him in drug counseling," Hof said. "We've got him going to NA meetings."
During the "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" interview, Thorson spoke about his current life at the Bunny Ranch. "What makes me happy now is that I'm off drugs and living a clean life," Thorson said.
Weeks after the interview, a Nevada drug court ordered Thorson to leave the Bunny Ranch. Within days of leaving, Thorson reportedly tested positive for drugs.
"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Sundays at 10 p.m. ET on OWN.