After Colbert's death, rumors about the actress's purported lesbian relationships, including supposed affairs with Marlene Dietrich and Greta Garbo, began to circulate in the international media. In response, Colbert's friend Helen O'Hagan told the "New York Daily News" that the actress barely knew Dietrich or Garbo and that Colbert was "a man's lady". The purported Colbert-Dietrich relationship also was explored in the 2001 book "Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969" by William J. Mann, a movie historian.