The fact that the family kept it under the lid until Clark, Loretta and Judy were all deceased (in 1960, 2000 and 2011 respectively), lends some credibility to the whole thing IMHO. It wasn't a money grabbing thing, no financial claims were raised, more a family (very) dark secret. Whatever the circumstances of Judy's conception, the way he disowned her wasn't his greatest move, especially given how her likeness to him was apparently the talk of Tinseltown.
For Judy the unfolding of the family secret must have been traumatic: First you find out only later that your mother did not adopt you after all, but that you were in fact her biological daughter she felt she had to hide away from the world, the whole adoption process a scam (or some strange way of guilty penance for your mother); then you learn that the great Clark Gable is your father, a man you have only met once in your life when you were 15 years old, not knowing who he was other than a Hollywood legend who dropped by for a surprise visit (and only after his death a decade later does your mother own up to him being your father); and, finally, another four decades later, it is revealed that the circumstances of your conception have been shrouded in mutual guilt of your biological parents because of questions of consensuality or lack thereof. No wonder Judy became a psychotherapist in her later life. If this isn't NETFLIX material, I don't know what is.
Lewis married Joseph Tinney in 1958, having one child together, daughter Maria. They divorced in 1972.[1]
After Lewis became engaged to Tinney at age twenty-three, he told her it was common knowledge that Gable was her biological father; Lewis was stunned.[3] After Gable's death, Lewis, at age 31, finally confronted her mother about the mystery behind her parentage.[3] Her mother said "YES you are my sin." Young became nauseated, but acknowledged that she and Gable were Lewis's biological parents.[3]
