Before the Beatles and the Biebs, there was Tab Hunter. The blonde-haired, blue-eyed star of such hit films as Damn Yankees! and Battle Cry was a film and music sensation in the 1950s, eliciting screams from young girls all over the world, and romancing such big-name stars as Natalie Wood and Debbie Reynolds. But Hunter was also what he calls “ a product” of the Hollywood studio moguls — a leading man whose public life was a carefully orchestrated sham, intended to cover up the fact that the swoon-inducing star was gay.

“My sexuality is only a thread of the tapestry of my life,” the 83-year-old Hunter was quick to point out in a recent interview with Yahoo Movies, in advance of the premiere of Tab Hunter Confidential (based on the 2006 autobiography of the same name, it will make its debut Sunday at the South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Tx.) “I’ve been a very, very fortunate man. I’ve had a lot of highs, and a great deal of lows. But I really feel that it’s all about [the fact that]… somewhere under a pile of crap, there’s gotta be a pony. I’m a firm believer in that, being a horse lover.”

Hunter hasn’t appeared in a film since 1992’s Dark Horse, and now spends his days far from the spotlight, living alongside his partner of over four decades, Allan Glaser — who produced the documentary — as well as his horse Marlow. Confidential portrays the rise and fall of his career, from his early work under contract at Warner Bros., to later films like Grease 2 and Polyester. It also illuminates the challenges a closeted gay heartthrob faced in what he calls a “bygone era,” and details the secret relationships he had with the likes of champion figure skater Ronnie Robertson and Psycho star Anthony Perkins. Here’s what Hunter told us about his life, his career, and his new documentary:

You mention in the film how difficult it’s always been to talk about your personal life, especially your sexuality.

Well I’ve always been like that. My mother was an old-school German, and she used to say, “Remember, there’s nothing for show.” So what happens? I end up in show business [laughs].

But with the release of the book, and now the film, are you finding it’s become easier for you to share?

No. I still just don’t discuss those things. I wrote the book because I heard that some schmuck was going to be doing a movie, and I said, “Look, when I’m dead and gone, I don’t want someone putting out some nonsense.” [Confidential] is the story. Take it for what it is. I don’t want someone putting a spin on my life. Take it from the horse’s mouth — rather than the horse’s ass — when I’m dead and gone.

What appealed to you most about being able to tell your story through the documentary format?

It was just wonderful to touch base with a lot of friends [who appear in the film] again. I mean, gosh, I used to date Debbie Reynolds when she was just out of the Burbank High School band.

Watch exclusive clip from Tab Hunter: Confidential

One of the sequences in the film that I found especially fascinating centers on your relationship with Tony Perkins. Could you speak for a moment about what he meant to you?

Tony was a very fine young actor, and I respected him tremendously. He was just a very intelligent man … Everybody hopefully makes the right choices in life, and he made the choice to marry this wonderful woman [photographer and actress Berry Berenson] and they had two lovely children. And I respect him tremendously for having done that, because I’m sure it was a very difficult decision for him. But it’s something that he wanted to do.

And people should not sit in judgment in any way, shape or form of another human being. Unfortunately, in our society today, so often people don’t want to hear the positive, they only want to hear the negative. I just push that aside. I don’t want to hear that. [People are] too quick to condemn.

Related: 2015 SXSW Preview: 13 Buzzy Films to Look Out For

Looking back, what kind of lengths did you guys have to go to at the time to cover up your relationship?

Well, Tony was very career-oriented. He was under contract to Paramount, [and] I was under contract to Warner Bros. We’d go out double-dating a lot, because I love being around beautiful women. I always have. There’s nothing wrong with that. People think that because you might have a feeling toward another male that you don’t enjoy women. I love women. I love being around them. But when we’d go out together, we’d kind of almost go out in disguise. Not in disguise, but in a baseball cap and sunglasses. Now, everybody wears that, but in those days…