Brendan Da Costa articles

Big Mama Thornton was the 20th century blues singer who became the first real rock and roller. Her life, however, was all blues.

Will Hay was an English comedian famous for his blundering schoolmaster character. But, off-screen, he hid many demons and shocking secrets.

John Henry “Doc” Holliday was the dentist-turned-outlaw who gambled and gunned his way across the Wild West. But there was one enemy he couldn’t outrun.

Nothing gave socialite Margot Asquith greater pleasure than shocking high society—until she went too far.

When Fanny Murray got involved with her richest client yet, she thought she’d hit the jackpot. Instead, he dragged her into the twisted world of the Hellfire Club.

According to rumors, Mama Cass from The Mamas & The Papas died from choking on a sandwich—but the dark truth was even more tragic.

Anaïs Nin kept a diary from the age of 11. Then her lover published the unexpurgated tell-all pages of her libertine lifestyle and scandalized the literary world.

Big Nose Kate and Doc Holliday had an affair that put Bonnie and Clyde to shame, but their “love” story came with an even darker twist.

Marilyn Miller is Marilyn Monroe’s namesake—which makes it deeply unsettling that the original Marilyn met an even darker and more twisted end.