Margaux Hemingway

Margaux Hemingway

Margaux Hemingway
Born Margot Louise Hemingway
February 16, 1954[1]
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
Died July 1, 1996 (aged 42)
Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Cause of death
 Suicide by drug overdose
Resting place
 Ketchum Cemetery
Occupation Model, actress
Spouse(s) Erroll Wetanson (m. 1975–78)
Bernard Foucher (m. 1979–87)
Parent(s) Byra Louise Whittlesey
Jack Hemingway
Relatives Mariel Hemingway (sister)
Ernest Hemingway (grandfather)

Margaux Louise Hemingway (February 16, 1954[1] – July 1, 1996[2]) was an American fashion model and actress. The statuesque Hemingway experienced visible success as a 'supermodel' in the mid-1970s appearing on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, and TIME. She signed a million-dollar contract for Fabergé as the spokesmodel for Babe perfume. At the age of 42, Hemingway was found dead in her Santa Monica studio apartment due to a drug overdose.

Early life

Born Margot Louise Hemingway in Portland, Oregon, she was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway. When she learned that she was named after the wine, Château Margaux, which her parents, Byra Louise (née Whittlesey) and Jack Hemingway (eldest son of Ernest), were drinking the night she was conceived, she changed the original spelling from "Margot" to "Margaux" to match.[2]

In addition to Mariel, she had another sister, Joan (nicknamed Muffet) and grew up in Idaho on her grandfather's farm in Ketchum. Margaux struggled with a variety of disorders in addition to alcoholism, including depression, bulimia, and epilepsy. She allowed a video recording to be made of a therapy session related to her bulimia, and it was broadcast on television. Hemingway also suffered from dyslexia.[3][4]

In 2013 her younger sister Mariel revealed in the documentary Running from Crazy that both Margaux and their older sister Muffet had been sexually abused by their father.[5][6]

Early career as a model

At six feet tall, Hemingway experienced success as a model, including a million-dollar contract for Fabergé as the spokesmodel for Babe perfume in the 1970s.[7] This was the first million-dollar contract ever awarded to a fashion model.[8] She also appeared on the covers of Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, and Vogue, as well as on the June 16, 1975, cover of TIME, which dubbed her one of the "new beauties".[9] The September 1, 1975, cover issue of American Vogue called Hemingway "New York's New Supermodel".[10]

In a 1997 E! True Hollywood Story that profiled Hemingway's life, her mentor and close friend Zachary Selig discussed how he helped launch her early career with his initial marketing and public relations work as she became a global celebrity, and he introduced her to yoga and the Solar Kundalini "Codex Relaxatia" paradigm as tools for success and to overcome some of her debilitating mental disorders. Selig and Hemingway spent time with the Hemingway family at their property in Ketchum adjacent to Sun Valley, where they studied Solar Kundalini, yoga, and meditation together. Hemingway continued using these relaxation skills for the rest of her life.[11]

During the height of her modeling career in the mid- to late 1970s, Hemingway was a regular attendee of New York City's exclusive discothèque Studio 54, often in the company of such celebrities as Halston, Bianca Jagger, Liza Minnelli, Grace Jones, and Andy Warhol. At such social mixers, she began to experiment with alcohol and drugs.[12]

She made her film debut in the Lamont Johnson-directed drama Lipstick (1976), alongside her 14-year-old sister Mariel.

Personal life and later career

Hemingway's first marriage, to Errol Wetanson, ended in divorce. They met when, at age 19, she accompanied her father to the Plaza Hotel in New York City on a business trip. Four months later she moved from Idaho to New York City to live with Wetanson as a guest at Selig's apartment at 12 East 72nd Street, which was owned by heiress Gloria Vanderbilt. It was there that Selig made Hemingway's business and social introductions to his friends, such as Marian McEvoy, fashion editor at Women's Wear Daily; photographer Francesco Scavullo; fashion designer Halston; Vogue magazine fashion editor Francis Stein; and Jon Revson, Selig's cousin. Revson, a scion of the Revson family that created Revlon cosmetics, declined Selig's offer for Hemingway to endorse Revlon, whereas later Fabergé signed her on with the largest salary of its day. Revson did come to visit both Selig and Hemingway (with the Hemingway family) in Ketchum, Idaho, to congratulate her after Hemingway's TIME magazine cover appeared in June 1975. Marian McEvoy quickly interviewed Margaux at a party given by Selig, which resulted in Hemingway's Women's Wear Daily front- and back-page story that launched Hemingway into the fashion limelight.[11]

Hemingway then married Venezuelan Bernard Fauchier. They lived in Paris for a year. She divorced him in 1985, after six years.[13]

Like her grandfather, she experienced occasional bouts of clinical depression all through her life. After a skiing accident in 1984, she gained 75 pounds and became increasingly depressed. In 1987, she checked into the Betty Ford Center. Making a comeback, Hemingway appeared on the cover of Playboy magazine in May 1990, and she asked Playboy to hire Selig as the creative director for her cover story. It was shot in Belize.[13]

Hemingway experienced familial dramas throughout her life. Her relationship with her mother, Puck, was fraught with tension, but they did reconcile prior to Puck's death from cancer in 1988. She also experienced intense competition with her younger sister Mariel, who received greater accolades for her acting. In the 1990s, Hemingway went forward with allegations that her godfather had molested her as a child; her father, Jack, and stepmother, Angela, resented the allegations and stopped speaking to her. Angela told People magazine, "Jack and I did not talk to her for two years. She constantly lies. The whole family won't have anything to do with her. She's nothing but an angry woman."[14]

Hemingway supported herself later in life by appearing in a few direct-to-video films, autographing her nude photos from Playboy magazine, and endorsing a psychic telephone hotline owned by her cousin Adiel Hemingway. Shortly before her death, she was set to host the outdoor adventure series Wild Guide on the Discovery Channel.[4]

The documentary film, Running from Crazy (2013), relating the Hemingway family history of suicide and drug addiction, contains documentary film excerpts filmed by Margaux Hemingway.[15]

Death

On July 1, 1996, one day before the anniversary of her grandfather's own suicide, Hemingway was found dead in her studio apartment. She had taken an overdose of phenobarbital, according to the Los Angeles County coroner's findings one month later.[16]

Though her death was ruled a suicide, family members disputed this finding.[8] In 1996, Steve Crisman, Mariel Hemingway's husband, told People that year, "This was the best I'd seen her in years. She had gotten herself back together."[17] On the December 22, 2005, episode of Larry King Live, however, Mariel said she now accepts Margaux's death as a suicide.[18]

Margaux's remains were cremated and buried in the Hemingway family plot in the Ketchum Cemetery in Idaho.[19]

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
1976 Lipstick Chris McCormick
1979 Killer Fish Gabrielle Alternative title: Naked Sun
1982 They Call Me Bruce? Karmen
1984 Over the Brooklyn Bridge Elizabeth Anderson
1984 Macchina per uccidere 2 Jacqueline Alternative title: Goma-2
1987 Portami la luna[20] Television movie
1992 La donna di una sera Ellen Foster US title: Woman's Secret(1992)[21]
1991 Inner Sanctum Anna Rawlins
1992 Love Is Like That Jackie
1992 Deadly Rivals Agent Linda Howerton Credited as Margot Hemingway
1994 Double Obsession Heather Dwyer
1994 Inner Sanctum II Anna Rawlins
1994 Frame-Up II: The Cover-Up Jean Searage Alternative title: Deadly Conspiracy
1995 Vicious Kiss Lisa
1995 A comme acteur[22]
1996 Dangerous Cargo Julie
1996 Backroads to Vegas Television movie

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Margaux Hemingway". IMDb. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Holloway, Lynette (3 July 1996). "Margaux Hemingway Is Dead; Model and Actress Was 41". The New York Times.
  3. ↑ Irlen, Helen (1991). "Reading by the Colors". p. 95. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Schneider, Karen S. (15 July 1996). "A Life Eclipsed". People. Retrieved 25 October 2014.
  5. ↑ Tapley, Kristopher. "Mariel Hemingway opens up about suicide, molestation and her family's curse in 'Running from Crazy'". Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  6. ↑ Friedman, Roger. "Mariel Hemingway Says Father Sexually Abused Two Older Sisters Including Super Model Margaux". Retrieved 16 February 2015.
  7. ↑ "Entertainment Weekly: Papa's Little Girl". EW.com. Retrieved October 25, 2014.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "What Killed Margaux Hemingway?". Psychology Today.
  9. ↑ "Margaux Hemingway (cover)". TIME Magazine Archives. June 16, 1975.
  10. ↑ "Margaux Hemingway (cover)". Vogue Timeline (September 1975).
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Margaux Hemingway, season 1, episode 4". E! True Hollywood Story. 1997.
  12. ↑ "What Killed Margaux Hemingway?". Psychology Today.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Arny Freytag (May 1990). "Margaux Hemingway: 'Papa's Girl' (Pictorial)". Playboy Magazine 37 (5). pp. 126–135.
  14. ↑ Schneider, Karen S. (July 15, 1996). "A Life Eclipsed". People. Retrieved May 24, 2008.
  15. ↑ Germain, David (Associated Press) (January 22, 2013). "Mariel Hemingway runs from crazy at Sundance". Yahoo News. Retrieved February 27, 2013.
  16. ↑ "Coroner Says Death of Actress Was Suicide". The New York Times. 21 August 1996.
  17. ↑ "Last Act". People. 2 September 1996. Retrieved 24 September 2008.
  18. ↑ "Larry King Live: Surviving Suicide of Loved One". CNN.com. 22 December 2005. Retrieved 24 May 2008.
  19. ↑ "Margaux Louise Hemingway". Find A Grave: Ketchum Cemetery. Ketchum, Idaho USA. 1 January 2001. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  20. ↑ "Portami la luna (1987)". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  21. ↑ "Woman's Secret". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2015.
  22. ↑ "A comme acteur(1995)". IMDb. Retrieved 25 March 2015.

External links

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