Inside Anita Pallenberg’s VERY wild life following her death at 73… from heroin addiction to a ‘fling with Jagger’ and partying with Kate Moss
The iconic Sixties model passed away last night, her friend Stella Schnabel announced on Instagram
THE iconic Sixties muse Anita Pallenberg, who became best known for her relationships with members of the Rolling Stones, has died at the age of 73.
Pallenberg’s death with announced last night on by her close friend Stella Schnabel, who commented: “I have never met a woman quite like you Anita."
The cause of death is currently unknown.
Pallenberg was born in Rome in 1944 to Arnold Pallenberg, a German-Italian sales agent, and Paula Wideerhold, who worked as an embassy secretary.
After being expelled from her boarding school at 16, she found work as a model and spent time in American artist Andy Warhol’s New York studio, which was known as The Factory.
In 1965, Pallenberg, then 22, was on a modelling job in Munich when she met the .
She embarked on a tumutlous relationship with guitarist Brian Jones.
“We did a lot of acid, but Brian was holding them badly, had nightmares,” she told , an Italian newspaper, last year.
“Brian began to become violent. He ended up in the hospital.”
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Pallenberg left Jones for his bandmate Keith Richards and they went on to have three children together, one of whom, son Tara, sadly died of cot death 10-weeks after his birth.
In his autobiography, Life, Richards describes Pallenberg as a “very strong” woman who was “extremely bright” and “a great beauty”.
He says that she also "had a fling" with singer - but she denied this.
Pallenberg became a muse for the Stones, and provided backing vocals for their track, Sympathy for the Devil.
Writing in his book Up And Down With The Rolling Stones in 2010, Richards’ former assistant Tony Sanchez described her as the woman who "almost broke up the Rolling Stones".
"Anita was the sexiest woman I’d ever seen. Then aged 26 and of Italian-German parentage, she had tumbling blonde hair, beautiful feline eyes and a long, lithe body," he said.
"She was also witty and intelligent - but she had form when it came to the Rolling Stones.
"She’d already had a two-year relationship with Brian Jones and had spent the past year with Keith. Now, it seemed, she wanted Mick Jagger."
Richards said she shared his “addiction to heroin” and the pair struggled with drug abuse. They separated in 1980.
Pallenberg went on to enjoy a film career, starring in 1969’s Barbarella, 1970s thriller Performance, and 2007’s Mister Lonely.
She also made a cameo appearance in the BBC’s Absolutely Fabulous in 2001, alongside Marianne Faithfull, who was Jagger’s girlfriend in the late 1960s.
Despite her success, Pallenberg suffered tragedy in her personal life.
She was accused of manslaughter in 1979 after a man called Scott Cantrell killed himself with her gun in the New York home she shared with Richards.
“I didn’t feel anything,” she told in 2008 of the death, for which she was subsequently cleared. “That’s one of the wonders of drugs and drink.”
Pallenberg sought help for her addictions in 1987 and went on to study fashion at Central St Martins in London.
She later shunned a career as a designer, telling : "I don't like the fashion world. It's too nasty, too rip-off, too hard."
However, Pallenberg was often spotted on the red carpet with fellow model Kate Moss, and just last year returned to the runway to walk in Pam Hogg's London Fashion Week show.
Pallenberg is survived by her children, Marlon, 47, and Angela, 45, and five grandchildren.