People of Note: Edie Sedgwick

Every artist worth his weight has a muse. For both Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan, Edie Sedgwick was that muse.

Born in 1943 to a family of old East Coast money, Sedgwick was in many ways the predecessor to our very own Paris Hilton. By that, I mean she was famous simply for being famous. Living a life of privilege and splendor, Ms. Sedgwick has become an iconic, mythical figure in both artistic circles and the eyes of aspiring debutantes.

Heavily involved in the social scene of the ‘60s, Sedgwick met Bob Dylan and his close friend Bobby Neuwirth in 1964 while they were staying at the Chelsea Hotel with Dylan’s girlfriend Sara Lownds. Sedgwick reportedly made an immediate impression on Dylan as they spent late nights touring the “poppy nightlife world,” as Neuwirth called it, while Lownds stayed at home with her 3-year-old child.

She would meet Warhol in 1965 and become a regular at his studio, referred to as The Factory and famed for wild parties with guest lists ranging from Mick Jagger to Truman Capote. Upon first meeting, Sedgwick caught Warhol’s eye and he decided to feature the young beauty in a series of avant-garde films including Poor Little Rich Girl, Kitchen, and Beauty No. 2.

The films were rarely viewed outside of The Factory, but Sedgwick’s fame spread nonetheless. It seemed she never left Warhol’s side (he referred to her as his “superstar). She went so far as to cut her hair short and die it silver to match the wigs Warhol would often wear.

By 1966 Sedgwick’s relationship with Warhol had deteriorated. Many believe the cause was Sedgwick’s relationship with Dylan, which caused petty jealousies and insecurities inside The Factory.

The truth, however, was that Dylan had secretly married Ms. Lownds several months prior to Sedgwick’s falling out with Warhol (a fact that Sedgwick was unaware of). During an argument between Sedgwick and Warhol at a New York restaurant, started when she mentioned a film she was supposedly to star in with “Bobby Dylan,” Warhol revealed the clandestine marriage, which he had learned of from mutual friends. Sedgwick went to make a phone call and when she returned announced that she was leaving The Factory. She never went back.

The animosity grew from there, particularly between Dylan and Warhol. Dylan blamed Warhol for Sedgwick’s unchecked drug use, feeling that he ruined her. Warhol felt that Dylan had been lying to Sedgwick, leading her on while knowing full well that he would never be with her; lying to her about their relationship (the exact nature of Dylan’s relationship with Sedgwick has never been verified, but it’s believe that several of the songs on Blonde on Blonde, released in 1966, are about Sedgwick. Also, Edie’s older brother Jonathon has come forward and asserted that she was pregnant with Dylan’s child and had an abortion.)

Sedgwick, meanwhile, became entangled in an intense and tumultuous relationship with Neuwirth and became increasingly dependent on barbiturates. Neuwirth, unable to cope with the drug use, broke it off in ’67. Sedgwick never quite recovered.

By 1969 Edie was committed to the psychiatric ward of Cottage Hospital in California. Here she met fellow patient Michael Post, whom she would marry in 1971. She reportedly quit using alcohol and drugs, but in October was prescribed pain medication for a physical illness. She would often demand more medication, or claim she lost the pills in order to get more.

In November Edie attended a fashion show and then an after party. She died that night of a barbiturate overdose. Edie Sedgwick was 28-years-old

So what makes Edie Sedgwick special? Why is a spoiled, drug abusing media darling worthy of the esteemed honor of being named a Zizzle-Zot Person of Note (any more so than Paris, Lindsay Lohan or Britney Spears)?

Because, in my eyes, her story embodies the tragedy that the lives of the rich and famous all too often are. We live in a society that idolizes and idealizes those who die young. Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix, Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, the list goes on. We glorify the lifestyles of drugged out, delusional, desperate individuals. We like to think of these people as truly living; seize the day, Carpe Diem. Always exciting. Always on the move. If only I could have that life, I’d be happy.

But really, aren’t these people dying? Slowly killing themselves as we look on, fascinated by the wreckage.

They are lost and lonely souls with no one to turn to in a sea of people.

Edie Sedgwick, reduced to a simple plot line, was an innocent and naïve girl looking for love, caught in the crosshairs of a world she didn’t understand. She was used and abandoned by men of staggering genius. Men who could compose in her name timeless ballads and priceless pieces of art. Men who could turn her into a goddess, a muse. Men who could give her the world, but were so consumed by their own inner turmoil that they could never give her their love.

Men who, after leading her to drugs and leaving her to suffer alone, would finally kill her.

Thanks for reading.