'60s Icon Doris Day Admitted She Was Entirely Different Off-Camera: 'Not Me'

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Doris Day is forever associated with wholesomeness and a perpetually peppy personality, but the actor made it clear that she wasn't a fan of that characterization. In fact, in her autobiography "Doris Day: Her Own Story," she went as far as calling her public image "make-believe."

In her first interview with A. E. Hotchner, who wrote the 1976 book, Day began by pointing out that her mother had tried to dissuade her from sharing her life's story with the world. "She said, 'Your life just hasn't been that happy that you can do a book. You know the image people have of you, but the truth is — all the terrible things that have happened to you, and all the times you've suffered, well, my goodness, when you think of all the unhappiness you've had — what's there to write about?'" Day recounted (via Internet Archive). It was a bold way to get things started, and Hotchner followed up by asking why she would want to open up about her life if she'd had such a tough ride. Day's response? "I'm tired of being thought as of Miss Goody Two-shoes, that's why. ... I'm not the All-American Virgin Queen, and I'd like to deal with the true, honest story of who I really am," she said. 

Day added that she loathed the very word "image" (hinting that that was because for so many years she'd been perceived a certain way), and reiterated that who she was in real life was a far cry from the way she'd been presented for decades. "This image I've got ... It has nothing to do with the life I've had," she declared. Slow clap for the candidness!

So, if Doris Day was one of those celebs who are nothing like they seem, what was she like in real life? Certainly, it seems she did come across as peppy in many scenarios. Even A. E. Hotchner wrote of their first meeting, "Doris Day arrived 15 minutes late on a chariot of sunshine." However, Day pointed out that she wasn't trying to.

"There must be something about me, about whatever it is that I give off, that accounts for this disparity between who I am and who I appear to be," she mused, noting that it confused her nonetheless. After all, she pointed out, "At ten years of age I discovered that my father was having an affair with the mother of my best friend. Divorce followed." She also recounted the serious accident she thankfully survived, saying, "At thirteen, I was in an auto that was hit by a train, and that abruptly ended my promising career as a dancer." That wasn't all, though. Day added, "I was married at seventeen to a psychopathic sadist." She'd later marry another mean man, Martin Melcher, who squandered her fortune and put her into debt. All in all, there were a ton of reasons why Day shouldn't be seen as the poster child of happiness, but after listing her misfortunes, she quipped, "Yes, sir, America's la-di-da happy virgin!"

Day would muse on her reputation as Hollywood's most happy-go-lucky star once again in a 1989 BBC interview. "I'm not Miss Goody Two-shoes! I don't know where that — from where it came. I really don't. I think it's rather silly, because I'm not at all, and I've played all kinds of roles," she said (via Culture Vulture Rises). Well, whether or not the public believed it, no one could ever accuse Day of trying to put on a front.