Inside Marianne Faithfull's transformation from 'virginal schoolgirl' to reluctant pin-up - and the truth about those Mars Bar rumours: How singer 'hated' her appearance despite becoming a boho chic icon
- The singer, who died this week, dated three Rolling Stones and rejected the advances of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan
- READ MORE: Inside Marianne Faithfull's tumultuous four-year relationship with Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger as singer and actress dies at 78
How Marianne Faithfull looked in her late teens - a bold, blunt fringe, pout and a carousel of mini-dresses and knee high boots - made her the face of 1960s fashion, and inspired copycat trends in the decades since.
The singer, who died this week at the age of 78, became known for much more than her style though - thanks to relationships and dalliances with a string of rock idols, and a drug habit that would almost cost her her life.
Tributes have poured in since the star's manager announced her death on Thursday, with fans paying tribute to the singer, whose biggest hit, As Tears Go By, was written by Sir Mick Jagger and Keith Richards.
Alongside her music career, Faithfull also acted in films including The Girl on a Motorcycle, as well as various theatre productions.
Her cult album Broken English saw her re-establish herself as a vital UK artist - part of the 'British invasion' - after a tumultuous period that saw her branded promiscuous and a bad mother.
The star was just 20 when she was part of that famous drugs bust at Keith Richards' luxury Sussex pile, Redlands, in 1967.
The ensuing raid by West Wittering police officers saw Jagger and Richards arrested - but the sight of Faithfull wearing nothing but a fur rug when officers attended quickly went down in rock folklore.
The singer, already married and a mother at 19, had escaped her childhood of privilege - and said she fell in with London's coolest musicians simply because she was 'incredibly beautiful'.
Marianne Faithfull, who died this week, pictured in 1967; the singer would become the face of the Sixties with her trademark blunt fringe, pout and mini-skirts
On the set of The Girl on a Motorcycle; Faithfull had enjoyed a privileged, if not avant garde, upbringing but fell into drug abuse as part of the London scene
The star died in London surrounded by her close family, her publicist revealed on Thursday
Marianne, pictured here in 1965, said she was only able to see her beauty long afterwards, saying her looks 'got me into trouble'
Marianne pictured with Mick Jagger at Euston station in 1967. The pair dated for four years and split in 1970, with the singer caught in a downward spiral of drugs after their split
In BBC's Desert Island Discs in 1995, she told host Sue Lawley that she'd been desperate to escape her childhood but hadn't realised at the time how attractive she was - to both genders.
'It's only with long distance and perspective. Now when I look at pictures, now I can understand it. It got me into a lot of trouble but I wouldn't change a lot of it. The only bit I would leave out if I could was the drugs.'
Born in Hampstead in London in 1946, her father, Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, had been a MI6 agent and British Army Officer.
Her mother was an Austro-Hungarian dancer named Baroness Eva Von Sacher-Masoch.
Perhaps the biggest signifier of her avant garde foundations though was her great-great-uncle - Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, an Austrian nobleman who invented the term masochism and wrote the sex slave novella Venus in Furs.
The star blamed no-one else but herself for her drug addiction. When asked if she was a victim by Lawley in that same episode, she said: 'Oh no. People are often trying to get me off my own hook but if I have to be on the hook, I'll be on it.'
She also spoke frankly about the notorious Mars Bar rumours that haunted her.
Faithfull was honest about her promiscuity, she was married young to artist John Dunbar, with whom she shares a son Nicholas, but bedded three Rolling Stones and David Bowie and resisted the advances of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan.
The Redlands raid - and Faithfull's nakedness bar the fur rug - sparked rumours that an orgy had taken place, with the singer long associated with a less than salubrious rumour that Jagger had inserted a Mars Bar into Faithfull's vagina and then eaten it.
Her other hits in the 1960s included As Tears Go By - co-written by her then-boyfriend Mick Jagger (the couple are pictured together in Sydney in July 1969). She said her album Broken English helped to restore her reputation after the Mars Bar rumours
Throughout the sixties and seventies, she battled heroin addiction, had a miscarriage in 1968 with Mick and lost custody of her son Nicholas - she once said she received hate mail calling her a bad parent
She told the BBC that in fact the group had enjoyed a wholesome day at the beach, and she was only wearing the rug because she had 'forgotten to bring a costume'.
Asked directly about the Mars Bar incident, the star said: 'It's not true. It's always upset and angered me. I've gotten over it a bit. That story really took away my good name as a woman.'
She added: 'It was my feminine self that was hurt by that, and that's what angered me about it, that Mick and Keith came out of it more glamorous and wonderful and sort of outlawed. I was destroyed by it, I had not understood the power of the authorities at all.'
Faithfull also denied it in her autobiography, saying the incident had been 'a dirty old man’s fantasy'.
The fall-out saw the end of her relationship with Jagger and her living on the streets of Soho, blighted by a heroin addiction that would continue on and off for nearly two decades.
She received death threats in the post about her promiscuity, with people calling her a bad mother to her young son, Nicholas.
Faithfull said: 'My answer to everything was to get as stoned as possible and live on the street, which made me sort of unattractive.'
When asked by an interviewer if being unappealing made her feel liberated, Marianne smiled and said: 'Yeah'.
Marianne pictured in 1968 on the set of The Girl On A Motorcycle; she slept with three of the Rolling Stones but turned down Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan
Marianne Faithfull is interviewed in London for New Musical Express - January 1974; the star lived on the streets of Soho whilst in the grip of a heroin addiction
Marianne pictured in Stockholm on Novemebr 23, 1979 - in later years she would work with artists including Nick Cave and Pulp
Faithful during her performance at the Montreux Jazz Festival July 10, 1995. The singer said her reputation was damaged by the Redlands drug raid in 1967, while Mick Jagger and Keith Richards emerged looking 'more glamorous'
She recorded 21 critically acclaimed albums up until 2021 with her last, She Walks in Beauty, recorded after nearly losing her life and voice to long-Covid. Pictured here in April 2016
Marianne Faithfull performs on stage in Riga -- May 2, 2007
Her album Broken English helped turn her life around in 1979; now regarded as a classic, it reignited her career and her sense of pride.
Later in her career she collaborated with Pulp, Blur, Nick Cave, Lou Reed and PJ Harvey making raw and sensational albums.
In recent years, Marianne's voice was used in the 2021 remake of Dune and 2023's Wild Summon.
Marianne's marriage to musician Ben Brierly between 1979 and 1986 left her heartbroken after he cheated and she never talked about her final marriage to actor Giorgio Della Terza from 1988 to 1991, it ended in divorce.
Towards the end of her life, Marianne turned her attention toward the only men who mattered.
Marianne said: 'There's no doubt that a girl's first love is her father. I just worshipped him.
'My mother left my father, and I lost him and I only found him in the last five years before he died.'
'I sometimes think that's even the reason for all this stuff with Mick because the only love I understand from the masculine figure is unrequited.'
Marianne was reunited with her estranged son Nicholas. Nicholas had three children with his wife Carole; Eliza, Oscar and Noah.
Marianne said about building a connection with her son: 'It's hard work but we do love each other. I guess human relationships are difficult aren't they?'
The singer formed a close bond with her grandchildren. Marianne said: 'We went through a lot. But we can through and I'm proud that we did that because I love having a family. I never expected to.'
In later life, Marianne suffered several injuries including a broken back in 2013 and a bad hip replacement the following summer that led to an infection.
She also developed arthritis in her writing hand. The star said: 'I don't want anyone feeling sorry for me. No f***ing way. I'm so grateful that I lived long enough to get here.'
As Marianne's biographer David Dalton said: 'The creation of Marianne Faithfull is her greatest work of art.'
