He had a reputation for being asexual but Andy Warhol actually had a string of male lovers, a major new biography reveals.

The artist lived with one boyfriend for 12 years

He had a reputation for being asexual but Andy Warhol actually had a string of male lovers, a major new biography reveals.

The artist lived with one boyfriend for 12 years and once bragged to friends that his 'bum is so sore because I met this (guy) and he screwed the a** off me'.

Former lovers said Warhol was an 'expert at fellatio' and that he 'blows like crazy', referring to oral sex.

Warhol even once took 'sex lessons' from a female friend and her sailor lover to improve his skills in the bedroom.

But despite his appetite for sex, Warhol never appeared to have got the hang of it, as one conquest said he was 'lousy' and another said their intercourse was 'at a schoolboy level'. 

The details are revealed in the new book Warhol by Blake Gopnik, a 900-page book about the Pop Art genius best known for his silkscreen paintings such as Campbell's Soup Cans.

Andy Warhol was not asexual but had a string of male lovers, the major new biography Warhol by Blake Gopnik reveals. The artist lived with one boyfriend for 12 years and former lovers said Warhol was an 'expert at fellatio' and that he 'blows like crazy', referring to oral sex. Pictured: Warhol with actor Patrick Fleming in 1966

Among the men who caught Warhol's eye was author Truman Capote who he became obsessed with and began stalking. Pictured: American film producer Lester Persky with Warhol and Capote in 1978 

Warhol became one of the world's most influential artists by collapsing the idea of high and low culture and bringing consumerist art to the masses.

He was obsessed with celebrity and coined the phrase that turned into a prophecy, that one day everyone will be famous for 15 minutes.

But on a personal level, Warhol has built up a reputation for being aloof from others, especially when it came to sex.

Gopnik writes this wasn't the case and details his conquests in depth, concluding the perception of Warhol as being asexual relates to 'some remaining homophobia in our culture'.

The details are revealed in the new book Warhol by Blake Gopnik , a 900-page book about the Pop Art genius

Gopnik writes: 'If we've finally come to accept that one of our artistic icons was gay, we still prefer not to picture him caught in the act with men.'

Warhol was born Andrew Warhola in 1929 to immigrants from what is now known as Slovakia in Pittsburgh where being gay could led to being arrested. 

In the 1940s insodomy was still prosecuted as a crime and the Pittsburgh police created a 'Morals Squad' whose only job was to arrest gay men.

Warhol supposedly cried during cuddles over the shame of growing up gay in Depression-era Pittsburgh where gay men and women were treated like criminals. 

So it was only when Warhol moved to New York in 1949 that he began to explore his gay identity, Gopnik writes.

Warhol was 'utterly immersed' in the gay community of Manhattan and one Halloween he turned up to a party wearing a garland of flowers, as 'daisy chain' was gay slang for a round robin orgy.

Warhol's first 'notable' crush was a pen pal, a young artist named Tommy Jackson who was a 'blond haired hunk' of a man who was four years younger than Warhol.

Jackson lived in Boston and St Paul, Minnesota, and he and Warhol became 'raunchy correspondents' with postcards that read things like: 'Sex'.

One of Jackson's first cards read: 'It is better to have failed your wasserman (blood test for syphilis) than never to have loved at all.' 

Warhol (pictured in 1981) supposedly cried during cuddles over the shame of growing up gay in Depression-era Pittsburgh where gay men and women were treated like criminals

Warhol was 'utterly immersed' in the gay community of Manhattan and one Halloween he turned up to a party wearing a garland of flowers, as 'daisy chain' was gay slang for a round robin orgy. Pictured: Warhol with Jerry Hall, Debbie Harry, Truman Capote and Paloma Picasso at Studio 54  circa 1970s

Among the others who caught Warhol's eye was author Truman Capote who he became obsessed with and began stalking.

Warhol sent Capote postcards at his home and then began to follow him around in person, once waiting outside the fashionable Stork Club where Capote was dining.

While hanging around outside Capote's apartment one day, the writer's mother invited him in after apparently taking pity on him.

Warhol took this as a cue to start phoning Capote every day until his mother told him to stop - the two men would later become friends in the 1970s when their cultural stars aligned.

Warhol's first proper lover, to whom he appears to have lost his virginity to, was a 20-year-old called Carlton Alfred Willers, who Warhol called' Willers'.

Willers was a clerk at the picture collection of the New York Public Library and Gopnik writes the two men were 'intimate'.

But Warhol was 'lousy in bed' as Willers described it, a description Warhol would be given by lovers 'for the rest of his life'.

Willliers said Warhol was 'certainly not passionate, he was more passionate about food and eating'.

Warhol's passions were for 'the beautiful people who owned and frequented certain restaurants', Gopnik writes.

It took a lot of coaxing to have sex and Warhol could 'barely manage intimacy' said Willers, who revealed that occasionally during an 'intimate moment' when they were cuddling Warhol cried.   

Warhol's first proper lover, to whom he appears to have lost his virginity to, was a 20-year-old called Carlton Alfred Willers, who Warhol called' Willers'. Willers was a clerk at the picture collection of the New York Public Library and Gopnik writes the two men were 'intimate'. But Warhol was 'lousy in bed' as Willers described it, a description Warhol would be given by lovers 'for the rest of his life'. Pictured: Warhol at his art studio 

One of Warhol's other boyfriends was Robert Pincus-Witten (left) who appeared in Warhol's film The 13 Most Beautiful Boys. Pincus-Witten was a 19-year-old who admitted he was a 'star f**ker' and sought out Warhol at The Factory. Like many of Warhol's lovers, Pincus-Witten said the sex was 'bad and awkward, even absurd' and didn't last very long. Another major lover was Charles Lisanby (right), a TV art director who later designed The Garry Moore Show, the comedy show that made a star of actress Carol Burnett. Warhol found himself drawn to Lisanby because he was tall, dark and from a 'horsey Southern family'

Warhol's passions were for 'the beautiful people who owned and frequented certain restaurants', Gopnik writes. Pictured: Warhol with Jerry Hall 

Gopnik writes: 'He'd tell Willers that he's been thinking about something sad from his past, but it seems just as likely that Warhol had a depressive streak that few got to see - unless they looked closely at his art.'

Stephen Bruce, one of the founders of a popular Manhattan cafe called Serendipity, where Warhol became a regular, said he would fall under the spell of 'every attractive young man in the city, including me'.

One such young man was Dudley Huppler, an artist from Wisconsin who was 11 years Warhol's junior and was close to Warhol for several years.

His next major lover was Charles Lisanby, a TV art director who later designed The Garry Moore Show, the comedy show that made a star of actress Carol Burnett.

Warhol found himself drawn to Lisanby because he was tall, dark and from a 'horsey Southern family'.

Gopnik writes the relationship 'hovered between a friendship, a flirtation and a love affair - depending on which of the two you asked to describe it'.

Lisanby explained he 'didn't think Warhol wanted to have sex because it was 'messy'.

Lisanby said: 'That was his word, it was too ''messy and distasteful''. He told me he'd had sex a few times, he had tried it and didn't really like it'.

But Gopnik notes there is 'plenty of evidence' that Warhol enjoyed 'all kinds of erotic contact in those early years and over the course of his life'.

Even Lisanby said when it came to sexual function, Warhol was 'normal in all respects'.

But Gopnik notes there is 'plenty of evidence' that Warhol enjoyed 'all kinds of erotic contact in those early years and over the course of his life'. Even Lisanby said when it came to sexual function, Warhol was 'normal in all respects'

One friend who knew Warhol in the 1950s remembered him saying: 'Oh, my bum is so sore because I met this number and he screwed the a** off me'. The friend didn't believe Warhol because he also had bought into the idea of him as asexual. Yet within a few years, Warhol was having surgery for anal warts and a tear, Gopnik writes. Pictured: Warhol with film director Paul Morissey, Viva and Gordon Locksley in 1968 

One friend who knew Warhol in the 1950s remembered him saying: 'Oh, my bum is so sore because I met this number and he screwed the a** off me'.

The friend didn't believe Warhol because he also had bought into the idea of him as asexual.

Yet within a few years, Warhol was having surgery for anal warts and a tear, Gopnik writes.

A decade later Warhol was treated at a hospital for condylomata, a sexually transmitted disease and required penicillin to rid it, but his recovery took weeks.

In fact he would be treated for rectal problems in the 1980s, suggesting Warhol was participating in some kind of sexual activity.

Taylor Mead, who Gopnik calls one of Warhol's 'closest gay collaborators', once claimed he 'blows like crazy - or wherever he can get it', apparently referring to oral sex.

Several other friends 'either witnessed Warhol having sex or heard him bragging about it'.

Warhol once got angry with his former assistant Vito Giallo for not joining him on his Wednesday night 'sex lessons' with his female friend and her sailor lover.

Giallo, who was far from a shrinking violet, declared them 'too strange for me'.

Another of Warhol's lovers was Billy Name, aka William George Linich, who was a photographer and archivist at The Factory, Warhol's infamous work and party space in Manhattan.

Name became Warhol's 'pet' and Warhol would sent him notes saying: 'My mother told me to pick the very best one. I pick you.'

Another of Warhol's lovers was Billy Name (pictured in 1997), aka William George Linich, who was a photographer and archivist at The Factory, Warhol's infamous work and party space in Manhattan. Name became Warhol's 'pet' and Warhol would sent him notes saying: 'My mother told me to pick the very best one. I pick you'

. But Warhol did give him one thing - crabs, the sexually transmitted disease. Pictured: Warhol with actor Mario Montez, who is dressed as a woman, on the set of Warhol's film, 'Chelsea Girls' in 1967 

The two were briefly lovers but were 'very awkward and very shy about the whole sexual thing', Name said.

Name said if he put his hand on Warhol's shoulder, he would jump as another lover said that Warhol was 'so feather-light that it sent one lover into ecstatics'.

Another lover said Warhol was an 'expert at fellatio'.

One of Warhol's other boyfriends was Robert Pincus-Witten who appeared in Warhol's film The 13 Most Beautiful Boys.

Pincus-Witten was a 19-year-old who admitted he was a 'star f**ker' and sought out Warhol at The Factory.

Like many of Warhol's lovers, Pincus-Witten said the sex was 'bad and awkward, even absurd' and didn't last very long.

But Warhol did give him one thing - crabs, the sexually transmitted disease.

Pincus-Witten joked that if the pests didn't come from the couch at The Factory then it was from 'Andy's crotch'.

In 1968 Warhol survived an assassination attempt by radical feminist writer Valerie Solanas, leaving him with deep scars from the bullet wounds.

That year he met Jed Johnson, who would later become a famed interior designer, and the two stayed together for 12 years.

At the time Johnson was a 19-year-old college kid from California who worked at The Factory fixing things up.

He moved in with Warhol and they 'functioned as husband and husband' and appeared to have a full sexual relationship.

That year he met Jed Johnson (pictured together), who would later become a famed interior designer, and the two stayed together for 12 years. At the time Johnson was a 19-year-old college kid from California who worked at The Factory fixing things up. He moved in with Warhol and they 'functioned as husband and husband' and appeared to have a full sexual relationship

In an interview before his death on February 22, 1987, from complications after a gallbladder surgery, Warhol declared his 'heart's been broken several times'

A friend recalled a time when someone denied another gay couple were lovers, with Warhol saying: 'That would be like saying Jed and I were just friends'.

The friend added: 'Believe me, they were lovers'.

Jonson confirmed this to a friend later and said sex with Warhol was 'at a schoolboy level'.

In public they did not display any affection and Warhol could be a jealous and controlling partner, in no small part due to the attempt on his life.

The relationship lasted until 1980, by which time Warhol was partying at Studio 54 where he 'couldn't keep his eyes, or his thoughts, or sometimes his hands, off the gorgeous young lads he saw on the dance floor most nights'.

In a farewell note Johnson told Warhol: 'I don't think you'll get (what you're looking for) from your Victors and Kevins and nights at Studio 54. You did have all my love and respect. Sorry it went wrong.'

Gopnik writes that underneath the artist's cooler-than-thou exterior, Warhol was actually a 'heart-felt romantic'.

He was 'deeply invested' in finding a soul mate and was left 'confused and miserable' when it didn't work out, as was often the case.

In an interview before his death on February 22, 1987, from complications after a gallbladder surgery, Warhol declared his 'heart's been broken several times'.

He said: 'Sometimes people let the same problems make them miserable for years when they should just say so what.

'That's one of my favorite things to say. So what. My mother didn't love me. So what. My husband won't ball me. So what'.