I think Ava had a healthy sexual appetite. I think there were men who were insecure if she never went to bed with them and so they gave her a label. Gardner certainly had plenty of affairs though; Clark Gable, Robert Taylor, Howard Duff, Robert Walker, Anthony Franciosa, David Niven and Turhan Bey.

I never found anything of the kind in Heston's book. He says that Gardner was friendly, insecure, edgy and difficult.
Gardner had previously had an affair with David Niven in the 1940s, but she didn't appear to remember this when she made THE LITTLE HUT [1957] and 55 DAYS AT PEKING [1963].

Too bad there isn't a time machine, because if there was, I would back to 1951 and tell Ava why she shouldn't marry Frank Sinatra but marry me instead.

Maybe he said that because she chose David Niven over him during the filming of "55 Days at Peking".
"No, I don't like to cook, but I have a chicken in the icebox, and you're eating it."