There are few figures from the 1960s the embody the spirit of the decade like Edie Sedgwick. Model, actress, socialite and muse, Edie was the face of Andy Warhol’s underground scene and captivated the world with her striking looks, bohemian style and glamorous, yet tragic life. Born into wealth and privilege, her brief life was a whirlwind of fame, fashion and turmoil, making her a cultural icon who continues to inspire.
The early life of Edie Sedgwick
Born on the 20th of April 1943, Edith Minturn Sedgwick was the seventh of eight children, from her wealthy family in Santa Barbara, California. The Sedgwicks were one of America’s aristocratic families, tracing their lineage back to early colonial settlers. Her mother was the daughter of Henry Wheeler de Forest, the president and chairman of the board of the Southern Pacific Railroad. Edie’s childhood, though privileged, was deeply troubled.
Her father, Francis Minturn Sedgwick, was a wealthy sculptor, but behind the facade of affluence lay a family rife with mental illness, dysfunction, and pressure to maintain appearances. Initially schooled at home and cared for by nannies, the children were rigidly controlled by their parents. Raised on their father’s California ranches, they were isolated from the outside world and were taught that they were superior to their peers. It was here that Sedgwick developed an eating disorder, settling into a pattern of binging and purging. At 13, when her grandfather passed away, she began boarding at the Branson School near San Francisco. According to her older sister Alice, she was removed from the school because of her eating disorder, with her father restricting her freedom on her return.
All of the Sedgwick children had complicated relationships with their father. Most accounts portray him as controlling, narcissistic, emotionally distant, and frequently abusive to the children. He would also openly have extramarital affairs with other women. On at least one occasion, Edie walked in on her father having sex with one of his mistresses. Of course, she reacted with surprise, but he claimed she had imagined it, slapping her and calling a doctor to drug her with tranquilisers. When she was an adult, Sedgwick told people that from the age of 7, her father had attempted to molest her on several occasions.
In 1958, she was enrolled at St. Timothy’s School in Maryland, eventually being removed once again due to her eating disorder, which had now progressed to anorexia. At her father’s insistence, she was committed to the private Silver Hill Hospital in Connecticut in the autumn of 1962. The regime here was lax, allowing Edie to manipulate her situation and her weight continued to drop. Later, she was sent to Bloomingdale, the behavioral health wing in the Westchester County division of New York Hospital, where her anorexia markedly improved. Shortly after she left the hospital, she had a brief relationship with a Harvard student and fell pregnant. She decided to terminate, citing her present psychological issues.
In autumn of 1963, Edie moved to Massachusetts, and began studying sculpture with her cousin Lily Saarinen. According to Lily, Sedgwick was wary around men, although they loved her. During this time, she partied with an elite bohemian fringe of the Harvard social scene.
Sedgwick was deeply affected by the loss of her older brothers, Francis Jr. and Robert, who died within 18 months of each other. Francis had a particularly unhappy relationship with their father, suffered several mental breakdowns. While committed to Silver Hill Hospital, Francis died by suicide in 1964. Robert, also suffered from mental health problems, died when his motorcycle crashed into the side of a bus on New Years Eve 1965 in New York City.
Edie Sedgwick – the Warhol Years
When she turned 21 in April 1964, Edie received an $80,000 trust fund from her maternal grandmother. This led her to move to New York to pursue a modelling career. Sedgwick met Andy Warhol at a party in March 1965, and began visiting his art studio The Factory which was located in Midtown Manhattan. During one of her visits, Warhol was filming his interpretation of the novel A Clockwork Orange, Vinyl (1965). Despite the otherwise all male cast, Andy put Edie in the movie. She also made a small cameo in another of his films Horse (1965). Sedgwick’s appearances in both films was short but generated enough interest that Warhol decided to cast her in the starring role of his next film.
The first of these, Poor Little Rich Girl (1965), was originally planned to be part of a series featuring Sedgwick called The Poor Little Rich Girl Saga. This was also to include additional films Restaurant, Face and Afternoon. Filming started in March 1965 in Sedgwick’s apartment; showing her going about her daily business. Her next film with Warhol was Kitchen. Filmed in May 1965 but not released until 1966, and starring Roger Trudeau, Donald Lyons and Elecktrah alongside Sedgwick, this film takes place entirely in the New York City apartment kitchen of Bud Wirtschafter, the sound engineer.
Sedgwick continued to make films with Warhol throughout 1965, Outer and Inner Space, Prison, Lupe and Chelsea Girls. Edited footage of her from the latter would eventually become the film Afternoon. By late 1965, their relationship had deteriorated with Edie demanding that Warhol stop showing her films. Lupe is often thought of as her last Warhol film, but she filmed The Andy Warhol Story in November 1966 with Rene Ricard. This unreleased film was shown once at The Factory, with both Edie and Rene satirically portraying Andy Warhol.
Even though Warhol’s films were only shown at underground theatres, Sedgwick still started to receive press attention who reported on both her film appearances and personal style. She had developed a distinctive look consisting of black leotards, mini dresses, large chandelier earrings, and heavy eye makeup. She helped to popularise the mini skirt by purchasing children’s skirts and wearing them as her own. Edie also cut her naturally brown hair short and dyed it with silver spray, matching her look with Warhol’s. He would give her the nickname of his “Superstar”, a previously niche phrase which became instantly popularised.
In a memorable Vogue photoshoot in August 1965, Sedgwick was photographed by Enzo Sellerio, wearing just pantyhose and a black ballet leotard, balancing on the back of a leather rhino. Vogue instantly dubbed her an “It Girl” and a “YouthQuaker”. November of 1965 saw her appear in Life magazine as “Girl in Black Tights” photographed by Fred Eberstadt.
After The Factory – 1966-1967
Following her fallout with Warhol and subsequent banishment from his inner circle, Edie began living at the Chelsea Hotel. It was here that she met and became close to Bob Dylan, where he and his friends convinced her to sign up with Dylan’s manager, Albert Grossman. According to Paul Morrissey, she had developed a crush on Dylan that she thought was reciprocated, also being under the impression that they would both star in a mainstream film. Unknown to Edie, Dylan had secretly married his girlfriend Sara Lownds in November 1965. Friends of Sedgwick later said that she saw the supposed offer of doing a film with Dylan as a ticket to a mainstream movie career. Morrissey claimed that Dylan likely did not have any plans to star alongside her and hadn’t been very truthful with Edie.
In 1966, Sedgwick was named one of the “fashion revolutionaries” in New York by Women’s Wear Daily. Throughout most of the year, she was involved in an intense and turbulent relationship with Bob Neuwirth, one of Bob Dylan’s friends. She also became more and more dependent on barbiturates. Eventually in early 1967, Neuwirth broke off their relationship, as he was unable to cope with her erratic behaviour and drug abuse.
The Later Years of Edie Sedgwick
In March 1967, Sedgwick began what may have seen promising, but would actually be the start of her decline. During the shooting of Ciao! Manhattan, a semi-autobiographical film, Edie accidentally set her room in the Chelsea Hotel on fire and was briefly in hospital with the resulting burns. Due to her rapid health decline from her drug use, the film was suspended. With further hospitalisations for mental issues and drug abuse in 1968 and 1969, Edie went to her family’s California ranch to recuperate. In August 1969, she was hospitalised again after being arrested by local police for drug offenses. While here, she would meet fellow patient Michael Post.
In the summer of 1970, she was hospitalised again but let out under supervision of a psychiatrist, two nurses and the live-in care of filmmaker John Palmer and his wife Janet. Determined to finish Ciao! Manhattan, Edie reconnected with the film crew and began shooting in late 1970. She also recorded tapes reflecting her life story, which was incorporated into the film. Filming finished in early 1971, with it being released in February of 1972.
At the same time as filming, Sedgwick and Post married on the 24th of July 1971, during a period where she was sober. In October 1971, Edie unfortunately relapsed after taking prescribed painkillers given to her for a physical illness, which led to her once again abusing alcohol and barbiturates.
On the night of the 15th of November 1971, Sedgwick went to a fashion show held at the Santa Barbara Museum. After the show, she attended a party where she drank alcohol. After calling her husband to collect her, she expressed uncertainty about their marriage on the way home. Before they fell asleep, he gave Edie medication that had been prescribed to her. According to Post, she fell asleep very quickly, and her breathing was “bad”. He attributed this to her heavy smoking habit and also went to sleep.
When Post awoke at 7:30am the following morning, he found Sedgwick dead. The coroner ruled her death as “undetermined/ accident/ suicide”. She was just 28 years old.