Sontag bullied lover Leibovitz

SUSAN Sontag bullied her lover, photographer Annie Leibovitz, mercilessly, telling her, “You’re so dumb,” a searing book about Sontag’s life reveals. In “Sontag: Her Life and Work,” by Benjamin Moser, Leibovitz speaks of her love for the great writer, who struggled with her sexuality. But for the first time, their affair is laid bare, as Sontag’s son, David Rieff, admits: “They were the worse couple I’ve ever seen in terms of unkindness, inability to be nice, held resentments.” Rieff is no fan of Leibovitz, but still says: “I said to Susan more than once, ‘Look, either be nicer to her or leave her.’ ” Despite that, the book says that Leibovitz paid for everything — first-class travel, apartments, private chefs and maids — although: “From early on, Susan gave the impression of wanting to get away from the relationship, and her discomfort burst into full public view.” Writer Richard Howard recalls a “constant litany of attacks on Annie — You’re so dumb, you’re so dumb” — that caused him to all but end a friendship of decades, the book reports. On the day Sontag’s friend Michael Silverblatt was due to met Leibovitz, Sontag, the book says, told him that “she felt obliged to explain that Annie would be the stupidest person I’d ever met.” Meanwhile, as Leibovitz stood by, she would gush to another fotog: “You’re the only interesting photographer in America.” At one Christmas dinner, Sontag shrieked at her lover for ordering shellfish — telling her that her son was allergic. The book says that Sontag denied that Leibovitz was her lover in interviews — even lying to her sister. The pair split in 2000, when Leibovitz decided to have a baby on her own at age 51. Even then, at a party to celebrate both Leibovitz and her baby daughter, Sontag allegedly became jealous of Anna Wintour. “I think she wanted me to herself,” Leibovitz said. But she still bought Sontag an apartment in Paris, and cared for Sontag during her final battle with cancer until her death in 2004 at 71. And despite everything, Leibovitz tells the author that she loved Sontag enough to endure the sniping. “I would have done anything,” she said. “She was tough, but it all balanced out. The good far outweighs the bad things. We had so many good experiences together.”