Some of history’s famous names led secret lives that showed an entirely different side of their true selves.
Benedict Arnold
He lived one of the most famous double lives in American history. To the public, Benedict Arnold was a war hero and one of the highest-ranking generals in the colonial army. He had gained the trust of none other than George Washington.
But behind closed doors, he was secretly communicating with the British, plotting to betray America by giving away military forts.
T.E. Lawrence
Lawrence had two lives that were almost two separate cultures. When he was in England, he acted like the stereotypical mustachioed military officer. But he always felt like an outcast in British society.
Then Lawrence traveled to the Middle East and fell in love with the way they lived. He dressed as an Arab and lived the Bedouin life. He felt more normal when living an entire lifestyle that was the polar opposite of his home life.
Isaac Newton
Famous for his work on physics and mathematics, Newton also worked as the warden of the Royal Mint in the late 1690s. Newton hunted down counterfeiters and brought them to justice, personally investigating crimes and gathering evidence.
Newton even disguised himself and hung out in taverns around London, spying on those who sought to destabilize the currency.
Lewis Carroll
Dodgson went to great lengths to keep his career as an author separate from his very public life as a professor of mathematics. He wrote under the pen name Lewis Carroll, and his alter ego created Wonderland for young children everywhere.
Charles Dodgson didn’t want Alice to overshadow his life’s work as a professor, so he tried to push the two apart at every opportunity.
Mata Hari
She started life as Margaretha Zelle, and she quickly became one of the most famous exotic dancers in Paris around the 1900s.
But unknown to the cheering crowds who attended her shows, she was a double agent trading secrets between nations during World War I. During her trials, she was executed by firing squad for her crimes.
Frank Abagnale
You may have heard of him from the famous movie Catch Me If You Can. For much of his youth, Frank truly fooled the world by posing as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer while still a teen. He lied and forged his way through millions of dollars’ worth of fake checks.
He was a master of disguise. He later became an undercover consultant for the FBI after he was caught.
Ernest Hemingway
To most, Hemingway was a man’s man. He went big game hunting in Africa, survived two World Wars as an international correspondent, and wrote classics like The Old Man and the Sea.
Away from the public eye, though, Hemingway suffered from mental illnesses, struggled with sensitivity, and even questioned his gender identity.
Vidocq
If anyone was living a double life, it was Eugene Francois Vidocq. Before he became a criminal informant and policeman, founding the Sûreté, France’s national detective agency, he spent much of his youth as a criminal jailbreaker.
Often being arrested and escaping jail, he decided to stop living a life on the run by joining the police as an insider. He used his criminal past to catch other criminals throughout his lifetime.
Alan Turing
The world celebrated Turing as a genius mathematician who helped win World War II by decrypting the Nazi Enigma codes. At home in 1950s Britain, he was forced to hide another part of himself: his homosexuality.
Forced to hide his homosexuality from a world that would ruin his career and take away his freedom, Turing led a secret life beyond the legend we think we know.
Christina of Sweden
She managed to live life on her own terms in an age when few women could. Christina was pressured to marry and produce an heir to the throne, but defied tradition and went rogue. She often wore men’s clothing and pursued her passions as a philosopher and intellectual.
Christina eventually abdicated her throne just so she could continue living life unconstrained by the powers that be.
Sources: Please see here for a complete listing of all sources that were consulted in the preparation of this article.
