Edie Sedgwick

Family background and early childhood

Edith "Edie" Minturn Sedgwick was born at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, California on April 20, 1943.^[2] She was the seventh of eight children of Alice Delano de Forest (1908–1988) and Francis Minturn Sedgwick (1904–1967).^[2] Her father was a rancher, sculptor, and member of the historical Sedgwick family of Massachusetts.^[3] Her maternal grandfather Henry Wheeler de Forest, the president and chairman of the board of the Southern Pacific Railroad.^[4] Her maternal great-grandfather, Reverend Endicott Peabody, founded the Groton School in Groton, Massachusetts.^[5][6] She was named after her father's aunt, Edith Minturn Stokes.^[7] She was of English and French Huguenot ancestry.

Despite the family's wealth and social prominence, Sedgwick's childhood was marked by isolation and strict parental control.^[8] Raised primarily on her father's California ranches, she and her siblings were homeschooled, cared for by nannies, and sheltered from the outside world.^[9] Her sister Saucie Sedgwick later recalled, "We really lived in two worlds—indoors and outdoors. Outdoors, that vast physical world of the ranch, was just pure freedom and elation, especially if you were out riding alone. Indoors meant inside the main house with the family. That was the world of form—very strict rules of conduct, all repressive, all belonging to that other world in the East that my parents were from."^[10] The family's fortunes increased in the early 1950s after oil was discovered on Rancho Corral de Quati, generating substantial income and enabling the purchase of the larger nearby Rancho La Laguna in 1952.^[11]

Several of Sedgwick's siblings had conflicted relationships with their father, whom they called "Fuzzy" because he "didn't want to be called Daddy."^[12] As an adult, Sedgwick told friends that he had attempted to molest her several times, beginning when she was aged 7.^[8] It was within these familial and social conditions that Sedgwick, by her early teens, developed an eating disorder, settling into an early pattern of binging and purging.^[13]

Boarding schools and mental health treatment

At age 13, following the death of her grandfather Henry Dwight Sedgwick, she attended The Branson School near San Francisco.^[14] According to her sister Alice "Saucie" Sedgwick, she was soon withdrawn from the school because of anorexia and she returned to a troubled home life life.^[15] Sedgwick told her friend Gillian Walker that "her father would come after her and lock her up and force her to stay in bed—a helpless, isolated prisoner, a drugged princess."^[16] Her brother, Jonathan Sedgwick, recalled that after she discovered their father having sex with a mistress, he slapped her and dismissed her account as delusional, then had her sedated by a doctor.^[16] "Mummy wouldn't believe her—she just had a blockage against things like that. Nobody'd believe her, so she was really a prisoner," he said.^[16]

In 1958, Sedgwick's parents enrolled her at St. Timothy's School in Maryland.^[17] She was eventually taken out of the school due to her continuing eating disorder.^[18] In the autumn of 1962, at her father's insistence, Sedgwick was committed to the private Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut.^[19] As the regime was very lax, she easily manipulated her situation at Silver Hill, and her weight kept dropping.^[19] She was later sent to Bloomingdale, the Westchester Division of New York Hospital, where her anorexia improved.^[13] After she was released from Bloomingdale, she had an affair with a Harvard student and underwent an abortion after becoming pregnant.^[20][21]

Rise at the Factory and early film work

On March 26, 1965, Sedgwick met Pop artist Andy Warhol during a party for Tennessee Williams at Lester Persky's apartment, where she performed an improvised "ballet-like" dance.^[38][39] Sedgwick and Wein had discussed experimental nightlife concepts, including an "underwater discotheque," where she'd dance ballet to Bach played at rock 'n' roll tempo."^[38] Sedgwick attended the party wearing her brunette hair in a beehive style.^[38] Struck by her appearance, Warhol reportedly exclaimed, "Oh, she's so bee-you-ti-ful."^[38] During the party, Ronald Tavel approached her and said he was scouting for stars, remarking that she resembled Nyoka the Jungle Girl.^[38]

Although Sedgwick knew little about Warhol, Wein brought her to his studio, the Factory, where Warhol suggested they collaborate.^[38] Sedgwick quickly fascinated Warhol, and he included her in the film Horse.^[40] Although the Vinyl featured an all-male cast, Warhol inserted Sedgwick into the project, and he cast her as the central figure in his subsequent work.^[41] Warhol dubbed Sedgwick his "superstar," and their frequent public appearances helped popularize the term.^[14][42] Sedgwick explained the concept on The Merv Griffin Show, reflecting its novelty to mainstream audiences at the time.^[43]

Sedgwick starred in a series of films originally conceived as a 24-hour portrait of her life, titled The Poor Little Rich Girl Saga.^[40] The films presented stylized glimpses of her daily routine: waking up and getting dressed in Poor Little Rich Girl; applying makeup and chatting in Face; meeting potential boyfriends in Beauty No. 1 and Beauty No. 2; dining with friends in Restaurant; and socializing at home in Afternoon.^[40] Many of her performances were loosely directed by Chuck Wein, who appeared as an off-screen voice.^[40] In 1965, Sedgwick continued working with Warhol on films including Kitchen, Outer and Inner Space, Prison, and Lupe.^[44][40] Warhol financed these films with money he made from his paintings.^[45] Most were screened only in underground cinemas or at private viewings held at the Factory, and they generated little profit.^[45]

Fashion and media attention

Sedgwick attracted growing mainstream media attention for her personal style.^[46][6] Her look—black leotards and tights, miniskirts, chandelier earrings, and heavy eye makeup—made her a fashion icon of the 1960s.^[47][48] She popularized the miniskirt by wearing altered children's skirts and cropped her naturally brown hair short and dyed it blonde.^[49] Commenting on her style in 1965, Sedgwick said: "I wear dance shirts and T shirts and tights because I'm spoiled. I always had fitted clothes, now that I've broken with my parents and they've cut off my money, I'd rather wear costumes than cheap clothes. I don't like Mod fashion ... a bunch of vacant people dragging around in someone else's idea of what they should like. I don't keep up with fashion, I invent my own. I'd rather be original."^[50]

In its August 1, 1965 issue, Vogue magazine anointed Sedgwick a "Youthquaker," featuring a photograph by Enzo Sellerio that depicted her balancing atop a leather rhinoceros.^[1] Sedgwick's mother disapproved of her modeling career and hoped she would return to sculpting and painting, which she had pursued before becoming a model.^[51] She also dismissed reports of Sedgwick's lavish fur collection as "utter nonsense", despite a New York Times account claiming she owned multiple mink coats and exotic furs.^[51][14] Later that year, Fred Eberstadt photographed Sedgwick for Life magazine's November 1965 pictorial, "The Girl with the Black Tights."^[6] Her cultural impact was underscored when artist Roy Lichtenstein and his wife dressed as Warhol and Sedgwick for a 1965 Halloween party.^[52]

Sedgwick's influence on fashion continued to grow in 1966, when she appeared in the March 15, 1966 edition of Vogue, modeling undergarments, and the next month, Women's Wear Daily named her one of New York's "fashion revolutionaries".^[53][54]

Final appearances and departure from the Factory

By 1966, Sedgwick had become disillusioned with her role at the Factory.^[55] She was reportedly frustrated by the lack of payment for her film work and resented the growing attention devoted to the Velvet Underground and Nico, newly managed by Warhol.^[55] On January 13, 1966, the Velvet Underground gave their first performance with Nico at the annual banquet of the New York Society of Clinical Psychiatrists at the Hotel Delmonico in New York City.^[55] Warhol's films were projected behind the band while Sedgwick and Gerard Malanga danced onstage.^[55] During the show, Sedgwick attempted to sing with the Velvet Underground.^[55] Warhol recalled, "He [Malanga] thought that she'd felt upstaged that night, that she'd realized Nico was the new girl in town. Nico and Edie were so different, there was no good reason to compare them, really. Nico was so cool, and Edie was so bubbly. But the sad thing was, Edie was taking a lot of heavy drugs, and she was getting vaguer and vaguer."^[56] She was further dissatisfied with her supporting role in the Andy Warhol, Up-Tight multimedia event in February 1966.^[55]

Shortly after, Sedgwick left the Factory scene following an argument with Warhol at a restaurant.^[57][58][a] Sedgwick had informed him that she signed a contract with Albert Grossman, who advised her to distance herself from Warhol due to bad publicity.^[58] According to Warhol, "Her Society lady attitude toward pills had changed to an addict attitude. Some of her good friends tried to help her, but she wouldn't listen to them. She said she wanted a 'career' and that she'd get one since Grossman was managing her. But how can you have a career when you don't have the discipline to work at anything?"^[56] Although Sedgwick originally had a small role in Chelsea Girls, she later asked Warhol to remove her segment from the film.^[59] In May 1966, Warhol told the Los Angeles Times that "Edie was the best, the greatest. She never understood what I was doing to her. I don't know what's going to happen to her now."^[60]

In October 1966, Sedgwick survived a fire in her apartment after she reportedly overdosed and dropped a lit cigarette.^[35][29][61] Her friend Judy Feiffer visited her at Lenox Hill Hospital and said, "Edie claimed she was lighting candles when the drapes caught on fire."^[62] Sedgwick was desperate to leave the hospital and alleged that she had been mistreated by the nurses, fighting to secure her release after 24 hours.^[62] Following the incident, she moved to the Chelsea Hotel.^[63]

At the urging of René Ricard, Warhol cast Sedgwick in The Andy Warhol Story, filmed in November 1966.^[40][64] The film featured Ricard in a satirical portrayal of Warhol.^[52][40] The film was never released commercially and was screened only once at the Factory.^[52]

Mental health decline and career attempts

In 1966, Sedgwick became involved with folk singer Bob Neuwirth, who was Dylan's road manager.^[71][72][73] Neuwirth was the first filmmaker to work with Sedgwick after her break with Warhol.^[64] On Easter Sunday, he filmed a satirical short featuring Sedgwick parading up Fifth Avenue in a leopard-skin coat while leading her roller-skate-mounted rhinoceros-shaped footstool.^[64] The police jokingly gave the four-wheeled rhinoceros a parking ticket after she tied it to a fire hydrant.^[64]

Throughout the year, Sedgwick became increasingly dependent on barbiturates.^[74] When she returned to California for the Christmas holidays, her parents put her in a psychiatric ward.^[75][76] After her return to New York in 1967, Sedgwick attempted to establish a mainstream acting career. According to Neuwirth, "She didn't want to make any more fatuous films with Andy. But the establishment moguls didn't think she was capable of handling big parts. She was hot at one point and she hadn't capitalized on it."^[77] In March 1967, Sedgwick auditioned to replace Beverly Bentley in Norman Mailer's Off-Broadway adaptation of his novel The Deer Park, but was not cast.^[78][77] Mailer said, "She was very good in a sort of tortured and wholly sensitive way ... She used so much of herself with every line that we knew she'd be immolated after three performances."^[77]

Shortly after, Sedgwick was cast by Chuck Wein in Ciao! Manhattan, an underground film he was working on with filmmakers John Palmer and David Weisman.^[79][80] Filming began in April 1967 with only a loosely developed script, and the project gradually evolved into a semi-autobiographical portrait of Sedgwick's life.^[81][82] While filming Ciao! Manhattan, Sedgwick was taking a lot of speed, and she survived a second fire after a cigarette ignited her mattress in her room at the Chelsea Hotel, though her cat was killed in the blaze.^[83] Around this time, she returned to the Factory to make one final film with Ondine and Warhol.^[84][85] Ondine later recalled, "I'd never seen Warhol walk away from his camera in a fit of just absolute, abject disgust but during that filming, a little movie of his called Edie and Ondine he just said, 'Stop, I won't film anymore.'"^[85] "Once Andy makes up his mind against you, you don't return in a Warhol film. But in this case he tried," Ondine said.^[86] He described the unreleased reel as "total collapse of a person" and said that viewers at the Factory found it painful to watch.^[86]

In August 1967, filmmaker Richard Leacock cast Sedgwick as Lulu in film sequences for a production of Alban Berg's opera Lulu being staged by Sarah Caldwell and the Boston Opera Company.^[87] Leacock said that Sedgwick arrived in London "absolutely desperate" and dependent on drugs, requiring constant attention during the production.^[87] Leacock enlisted Neuwirth to accompany the crew, but the responsibility of caring for Sedgwick proved difficult, with Neuwirth stating that he could not act as her "nursemaid."^[88] After Neuwirth, she subsequently dated singer Dino Valente and actor Patrick Tilden.^[89]

Hospitalizations and return to California

After completing work on Lulu, Sedgwick returned to New York and became increasingly distressed by her inability to speak with her ill father, Francis "Fuzzy" Sedgwick, who refused to accept her calls.^[90] Friends recalled that she expressed both deep love and resentment toward him.^[91] When he died of pancreatic cancer in October 1967, while Sedgwick was a patient at Gracie Square Hospital, those close to her hoped it would bring her peace.^[92][93] Instead, his death appeared to deepen her emotional struggles, and she continued to move in and out of hospitals in the following years.^[92]

According to Sedgwick, after running away from Gracie Square Hospital, she entered a destructive period of heavy drug use that culminated in an overdose of Placidyl and a coma.^[94] Authorities treated the incident as a suicide attempt and committed her to the New York State Psychiatric Institute at Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital before transferring her to Manhattan State Hospital on Wards Island.^[95][96] Although she and Warhol had become estranged, Sedgwick sent him a get-well card while he was recovering from a near-fatal shooting in June 1968.^[97] Later that year, her mother secured her release and brought her back to California.^[98] Shortly after her return, she was arrested on narcotics charges and sentenced to five years' probation.^[99] In August 1969, Sedgwick was admitted to Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, where she met fellow patient Michael Post, whom she later married.^[100][101]

While hospitalized in 1970, Sedgwick was contacted by Weisman about completing Ciao! Manhattan.^[102] With the approval of her psychiatrist, Dr. Mercer, she moved into an apartment near the hospital and resumed filming under the supervision of nurses, Palmer and his wife, Janet.^[103] During production, Sedgwick had her breasts enlarged through silicone injections, a change that the filmmakers addressed in the film's dialogue without explicitly acknowledging the procedure.^[104] Production progressed slowly but was eventually completed in early 1971 and released the following year.^[105][82]

Marriage to Michael Post

From January to June 1971, Sedgwick was hospitalized again and received shock therapy.^[106] Despite occasional arguments with Michael Post and concerns about her ongoing mental health struggles, the couple became engaged soon after her release.^[107] Post recalled, "I thought I could turn her into a person who could function in society without the use of drugs and alcohol, but I always had the feeling that once I did that, then I would lose her. I was so mad about her that I had to take the chance."^[108] After a brief engagement, they married on July 24, 1971, at her family's ranch in California.^[109]

Following the wedding, Sedgwick hoped to have a baby and underwent medical testing, but learned that she wasn't pregnant.^[110] She temporarily stopped drinking and using pills, and the couple spent much of August 1971 together in Santa Barbara, frequenting the beach and local nightclubs.^[108] In October, Sedgwick developed a severe ear infection and suffered an allergic reaction to the antibiotics prescribed to treat it, resulting in serum sickness and chronic pain; Post said this led to the return of her dependence on prescription drugs.^[110] As her health deteriorated, she spent increasing amounts of time bedridden while Post cared for her.^[110]

Books

In 1982, Edie Sedgwick: An American Biography written by Jean Stein was published by Alfred A Knopf.^[109]

In 2022, Sedgwick's sister Alice Sedgwick Wohl released the book As It Turns Out: Thinking About Edie and Andy.^[122][123]

Film and theater

Sedgwick's life has been the subject of numerous projects. In the 1980s, Warren Beatty acquired the rights to her life story and explored a film adaptation starring Molly Ringwald, but the project was never realized.^[124] Sedgwick has since appeared as a character or inspiration in several works. Jennifer Rubin portrayed her in Oliver Stone's The Doors (1991),^[125] while Amanda Peet's character in Igby Goes Down (2002) is described as an Edie Sedgwick-like.^[126] The 2004 Off-Broadway play Andy & Edie produced by Peter Braunstein dramatized her relationship with Warhol.^[127]

In George Hickenlooper's film Factory Girl (2006), a fictionalized account of her life, Sedgwick was played by Sienna Miller alongside Guy Pearce as Warhol.^[128] Michael Post, Sedgwick's widower, appears as a taxi driver in one of the last scenes of the film.^[129] Michelle Williams portrayed a Sedgwick-inspired character in I'm Not There (2007).^[130]

Later tributes include the short film Edie: Girl on Fire (2010) by Melissa Painter and David Weisman, and the animated short Too Late (2021) by Polish artist Kinga Syrek, released to mark the 50th anniversary of her death.^{[76][47][131]}

Music

Sedgwick has been widely cited as an influence and subject in popular music across multiple decades. Critics have long speculated that Bob Dylan drew inspiration from Sedgwick in several songs, most notably his 1965 single "Like a Rolling Stone," as well as "Just Like a Woman," and "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" from his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde.^[132][133] Although Dylan never publicly confirmed these associations, the speculation has persisted due to Sedgwick's proximity to Dylan during this period and the thematic parallels noted by commentators.^[59][133]

The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale," from the album The Velvet Underground & Nico (1967), was explicitly written about Sedgwick at Warhol's request.^[134] Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Sedgwick's image and legacy continued to resonate in alternative and rock music. She appears on the cover of Dramarama's 1985 debut album Cinéma Vérité, while the band's video for "Anything, Anything (I'll Give You)" incorporates footage from Ciao! Manhattan. That same year, The Dream Academy released the single "The Love Parade" with the B-side "Girl in a Million (For Edie Sedgwick)." Sedgwick was referenced or memorialized in songs by Primal Scream ("Velocity Girl," 1986),^[135] Edie Brickell & New Bohemians ("Little Miss S.," 1988),^[136] James Ray and The Performance ("Edie Sedgwick," 1989),^[137] The Cult ("Edie (Ciao Baby)," 1989), and Deadbolt's "Edie" (1992).

Admiration for Sedgwick extended into the 21st century with additional tributes, including Tal Cohen-Shalev's "Factory Girl (Song for Edie Sedgwick)" (2009).^[138] Alizée's album Une enfant du siècle (2010) was inspired by her life,^[139] and Dean & Britta's 13 Most Beautiful: Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests (2010) includes a song written to accompany Warhol's screen test of Sedgwick.^[140] The Pretty Reckless' "Factory Girl" (2010) is also based on her, with lead singer Taylor Momsen citing Sedgwick's style and boundary-pushing persona as an inspiration.^[141] Visual references to Sedgwick appear in Lady Gaga's music videos for "Applause" and "Marry the Night,"^[142] while G-Eazy's 2014 song "Downtown Love" draws on her life story.^[143] Beach House cited Sedgwick's iconography as an influence on their 2018 album 7, particularly the track "Girl of the Year."^[144][145]