Movie legend Sidney Poitier has been exposed as a love cheat by actress Diahann Carroll in her new autobiography.
The respected film icon reportedly promised to wed Carroll after the couple met and fell in love on the set of 1959 musical Porgy + Bess, but when Poitier allegedly locked her out of the New York apartment they were to share as man and wife, she knew the romance was over.
In her new book The Legs Are The Last To Go, the 73-year-old former Dynasty star reveals she even split from her husband Monte Kay so she could marry Poitier - but he refused to leave his first wife Juanita.
She tells America's the Globe, "I was about to move in (with him) when he told me he didn't want me there. He changed the locks so I couldn't get in.
"Then he made me write him a cheque to offset his purchase and decorating costs."
Despite the messy break-up, Carroll reveals she fell for Poitier again on the set of Paris Blues in 1960. Again, the actress dumped her husband, with whom she had reconciled, but the actor would not leave the wife he was cheating on.
Carroll adds, "He loved me, but he also loved his wife, a good Catholic woman who stuck with him through his worst years."
The affair continued until Poitier backed out of plans to divorce his wife a third time. Carroll eventually split from her lover before he finally did leave Juanita.
But, despite all the heartbreak, the actress insists she and Poitier are "now friends," adding, "That's a lovely thing that comes as you age - forgiveness."