UPDATE: Marilyn has responded to Gavin's confession in an interview with In Touch, claiming their relationship was much more involved than Gavin let on:
"Gavin and Gwen are perfect for each other, but he was the love of my life," Marilyn told In Touch, adding that he dated Gavin for five years in the early '80s. When Boy George first discussed the former couple's romance in his 1995 memoir, Take It Like A Man, Marilyn kept quiet, even when Gavin denied their love. "He was just becoming successful in America," Marilyn explained. "I agreed to lie against every grain of my being." Now that Gavin has come clean about the relationship, Marilyn isn't feeling totally vindicated. "I think it's really hypocritical that Gavin can do an interview about me, yet me doing one about him is wrong!" he said today on his Facebook page.
PREVIOUSLY: Gavin Rossdale is coming clean about rumors of a gay fling in his past.
In his 1995 autobiography, Boy George wrote about Gavin having an affair in his teens with cross-dressing pop star Peter Robinson, known as Marilyn. Gavin denied the story for years, but now admits to it in an interview with Details:
Details: Last year, the cross-dressing pop singer Marilyn revealed that he was romantically involved with you in your teens--an assertion Boy George first made in 1995. Why haven't you talked about those claims?
Gavin Rossdale: I think at the outset there was a sort of fear--that was right at the beginning of Bush, and I didn't want it to be part of it. It felt like a cheap shot, so I was like, "I'm not getting involved." I've never wanted to appear closed about it. It's not something I've talked about really because it's always been in the glare of a tabloid world. It's just one of those things: Move on. When you're 17, Jesus Christ. I don't think there's anything strange about any form of--you're learning about life. It's a part of growing up. That's it. No more, no less.
Details: So it was just a one-time experimentation?
Gavin Rossdale: Yeah. That was it. You have to know what you like, and I know what I like.
Back in 1996, Gavin told Rolling Stone (via OK!) that Boy George was wrong:
"That's George's take--he doesn't know me. There's a queue of people going to their lawyers about stuff in his book. I hope he manages to sell some books by putting my name in there...I wasn't dating Marilyn. We were, and still are, good friends. George thinks everyone is gay."
In the Details interview Gavin also talks about bathing with wife Gwen Stefani and learning in 2004 that he had a love child, British model Daisy Lowe, now 21.