Margaux Hemingway
Encyclopedia
Margaux Hemingway was an American
fashion
model
and actress.
, Oregon
, and was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway
and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway
. When she learned that she was named for the wine, Château Margaux
, which her parents, Puck 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. In addition to Mariel, she had another sister, Joan. She grew up in Idaho
on her grandfather's farm in Ketchum
. She struggled with a variety of disorders in addition to alcoholism, including 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
.
, Elle
, Cosmopolitan
, and Harper's Bazaar
, and appeared on the June 16, 1975 cover of Time
, which dubbed her one of the "new beauties".The September 1, 1975 cover issue of American Vogue called Hemingway "New York's New Supermodel
."
In an 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 both studied Solar Kundalini, yoga and meditation
together. Hemingway continued using these relaxation skills for the rest of her life.
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 Liza Minnelli
, Halston
, Bianca Jagger
, Andy Warhol
and Grace Jones
. It was at such social mixers that she began to experiment with alcohol and drugs.
She made her film debut in the 1976 Lamont Johnson
-directed drama Lipstick
, alongside her fourteen-year-old sister Mariel.
in New York City
on a business trip. Four months later she moved from Idaho to New York City to live with Wetson as a guest at Selig's apartment at 12 East 72nd Street, a residence that was owned by heiress Gloria Vanderbilt
. It was there that Selig made Hemingways'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 Hemingways's Time
magazine cover appeared in June 1975. Marion Macelvoy 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.
On the rebound, Hemingway married Venezuelan Bernard Fauchier, and they lived in Paris
for a year. She also divorced him in 1985 after six years. 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 more and more 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
.
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."
She 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
.
, at age 42. She had taken an overdose of phenobarbital
, according to the Los Angeles County coroner
's findings one month later. Though her death was ruled a suicide
, family members disputed this finding. Steve Crisman, Mariel Hemingway's then-husband in 1996, told People magazine that year, "This was the best I'd seen her in years. She had gotten herself back together." On a December 22, 2005, edition of Larry King Live
, however, Mariel said she now accepts the fact that Margaux committed suicide.
Her remains were cremated and buried in the Hemingway family plot in the Ketchum Cemetery in Idaho
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
fashion
Fashion
Fashion, a general term for a currently popular style or practice, especially in clothing, foot wear, or accessories. Fashion references to anything that is the current trend in look and dress up of a person...
model
Model (person)
A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....
and actress.
Early life
Margot Louise Hemingway was born in PortlandPortland, Oregon
Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...
, Oregon
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, and was the older sister of actress Mariel Hemingway
Mariel Hemingway
- Early life :Hemingway was born in Mill Valley, California, the third daughter of Byra Louise Hemingway and Jack Hemingway, a writer. Her sisters are Joan Hemingway and Margaux Hemingway...
and the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway was an American author and journalist. His economic and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the...
. When she learned that she was named for the wine, Château Margaux
Château Margaux
Château Margaux, archaically La Mothe de Margaux, is a wine estate of Bordeaux wine, and was one of four wines to achieve Premier cru status in the Bordeaux Classification of 1855. The estate's best wines are very expensive...
, which her parents, Puck and Jack Hemingway
Jack Hemingway
John "Jack" Hadley Nicanor Hemingway was an American writer and conservationist. He was born in Toronto, Canada, the only child of American writer Ernest Hemingway's marriage to his first wife Hadley Richardson. He would later gain two half-brothers from Hemingway's second marriage to Pauline...
(eldest son of Ernest), were drinking the night she was conceived, she changed the original spelling from 'Margot' to 'Margaux' to match. In addition to Mariel, she had another sister, Joan. She grew up in Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
on her grandfather's farm in Ketchum
Ketchum, Idaho
Ketchum is a city in Blaine County, Idaho, United States, in the central part of the state. The population was 3,003 at the 2000 census. It is in the Wood River Valley, adjacent to Sun Valley; the two communities share many resources and both sit in the same valley beneath Bald Mountain, with its...
. She struggled with a variety of disorders in addition to alcoholism, including bulimia and epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...
. 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
Dyslexia
Dyslexia is a very broad term defining a learning disability that impairs a person's fluency or comprehension accuracy in being able to read, and which can manifest itself as a difficulty with phonological awareness, phonological decoding, orthographic coding, auditory short-term memory, or rapid...
.
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. This was the first million-dollar contract ever awarded to a fashion model. She also appeared on the covers of VogueVogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, Elle
Elle (magazine)
Elle is a worldwide magazine of French origin that focuses on women's fashion, beauty, health, and entertainment. Elle is also the world's largest fashion magazine. It was founded by Pierre Lazareff and his wife Hélène Gordon in 1945. The title, in French, means "she".-History:Elle was founded in...
, Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan (magazine)
Cosmopolitan is an international magazine for women. It was first published in 1886 in the United States as a family magazine, was later transformed into a literary magazine and eventually became a women's magazine in the late 1960s...
, and Harper's Bazaar
Harper's Bazaar
Harper’s Bazaar is an American fashion magazine, first published in 1867. Harper’s Bazaar is published by Hearst and, as a magazine, considers itself to be the style resource for “women who are the first to buy the best, from casual to couture.”...
, and appeared on the June 16, 1975 cover of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
, which dubbed her one of the "new beauties".The September 1, 1975 cover issue of American Vogue called Hemingway "New York's New Supermodel
Supermodel
The term supermodel refers to a highly-paid fashion model who usually has a worldwide reputation and often a background in haute couture and commercial modeling. The term became prominent in the popular culture of the 1980s. Supermodels usually work for top fashion designers and labels...
."
In an E! True Hollywood Story
E! True Hollywood Story
E! True Hollywood Story is an American documentary series on E! that deals with famous Hollywood celebrities, movies, TV shows and well-known public figures...
that profiled Hemingway's life, her mentor and close friend Zachary Selig
Zachary Selig
Zachary Selig is an American artist, author, interior designer and spiritist.-Biography:His first publication as author and illustrator was the bestselling Kundalini Awakening - A Gentle Guide to Chakra Activation and Spiritual Growth.Selig is a magic realist painter...
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
Yoga
Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual discipline, originating in ancient India. The goal of yoga, or of the person practicing yoga, is the attainment of a state of perfect spiritual insight and tranquility while meditating on Supersoul...
and the Solar Kundalini
Kundalini
Kundalini literally means coiled. In yoga, a "corporeal energy" - an unconscious, instinctive or libidinal force or Shakti, lies coiled at the base of the spine. It is envisioned either as a goddess or else as a sleeping serpent, hence a number of English renderings of the term such as 'serpent...
"Codex
Codex
A codex is a book in the format used for modern books, with multiple quires or gatherings typically bound together and given a cover.Developed by the Romans from wooden writing tablets, its gradual replacement...
Relaxatia" paradigm
Paradigm
The word paradigm has been used in science to describe distinct concepts. It comes from Greek "παράδειγμα" , "pattern, example, sample" from the verb "παραδείκνυμι" , "exhibit, represent, expose" and that from "παρά" , "beside, beyond" + "δείκνυμι" , "to show, to point out".The original Greek...
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
Sun Valley, Idaho
Sun Valley is a resort city in Blaine County in the central part of the U.S. state of Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum, lying within the greater Wood River valley. Tourists from around the world enjoy its skiing, hiking, ice skating, trail riding, tennis, and cycling. The population was 1,427...
, where they both studied Solar Kundalini, yoga and meditation
Meditation
Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....
together. Hemingway continued using these relaxation skills for the rest of her life.
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
Studio 54
Studio 54 was a highly popular discotheque from 1977 until 1991, located at 254 West 54th Street in Manhattan, New York, USA. It was originally the Gallo Opera House, opening in 1927, after which it changed names several times, eventually becoming a CBS radio and television studio. In 1977 it...
, often in the company of such celebrities as Liza Minnelli
Liza Minnelli
Liza May Minnelli is an American actress and singer. She is the daughter of singer and actress Judy Garland and film director Vincente Minnelli....
, Halston
Halston
Roy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston was a clothing designer of the 1970s. His long dresses or copies of his style were popular fashion wear in mid-1970s discotheques.-Early life and career:...
, Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger
Bianca Jagger is a Nicaraguan-born social and human rights advocate and a former actress and model...
, Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
and Grace Jones
Grace Jones
Grace Jones is a Jamaican-American singer, model and actress.Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits. In the late 1970s, she adapted the emerging electronic music style and adopted a severe, androgynous look with square-cut hair and...
. It was at such social mixers that she began to experiment with alcohol and drugs.
She made her film debut in the 1976 Lamont Johnson
Lamont Johnson
Lamont Johnson was an American actor and film director who has appeared in and directed many television shows and movies. He won two Emmy Awards....
-directed drama Lipstick
Lipstick (film)
Lipstick is a 1976 drama film directed by Lamont Johnson. Starring Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, it contains one of the most infamous scenes in motion picture history, showing an extremely graphic rape scene.- Plot :...
, alongside her fourteen-year-old sister Mariel.
Personal life and later career
Her first marriage, to Errol Wetson, ended in divorce. They met when, at 19, she accompanied her father to the Plaza HotelPlaza Hotel
The Plaza Hotel in New York City is a landmark 20-story luxury hotel with a height of and length of that occupies the west side of Grand Army Plaza, from which it derives its name, and extends along Central Park South in Manhattan. Fifth Avenue extends along the east side of Grand Army Plaza...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on a business trip. Four months later she moved from Idaho to New York City to live with Wetson as a guest at Selig's apartment at 12 East 72nd Street, a residence that was owned by heiress Gloria Vanderbilt
Gloria Vanderbilt
Gloria Laura Vanderbilt is an American artist, author, actress, heiress, and socialite most noted as an early developer of designer blue jeans...
. It was there that Selig made Hemingways's business and social introductions to his friends, such as Marian McEvoy, fashion editor at Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily
Women's Wear Daily is a fashion-industry trade journal sometimes called "the bible of fashion." WWD delivers information and intelligence on changing trends and breaking news in the fashion, beauty and retail industries with a readership composed largely of retailers, designers, manufacturers,...
; photographer Francesco Scavullo
Francesco Scavullo
Francesco Scavullo was an American fashion photographer best known for his work on the covers of Cosmopolitan and his celebrity portraits.-Biography:...
; fashion designer Halston
Halston
Roy Halston Frowick, also known as Halston was a clothing designer of the 1970s. His long dresses or copies of his style were popular fashion wear in mid-1970s discotheques.-Early life and career:...
; Vogue magazine fashion editor Francis Stein; and Jon Revson, Selig's cousin. Revson, a scion of the Revson family that created Revlon
Revlon
Revlon is an American cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, and personal care company founded in 1932.-History:Revlon was founded in the midst of the Great Depression, 1932, by Charles Revson and his brother Joseph, along with a chemist, Charles Lachman, who contributed the "L" in the Revlon name...
cosmetics, declined Selig's offer for Hemingway to endorse Revlon, whereas later Fabergé
Fabergé (cosmetics)
-History:The American oil billionaire Armand Hammer collected many Fabergé pieces during his business ventures in communist Russia in the 1920s. In 1937, Armand Hammer’s friend Samuel Rubin, owner of the Spanish Trading Corporation which imported soap and olive oil, closed down his company because...
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 Hemingways's Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine cover appeared in June 1975. Marion Macelvoy 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.
On the rebound, Hemingway married Venezuelan Bernard Fauchier, and they lived in Paris
Paris
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
for a year. She also divorced him in 1985 after six years. Like her grandfather, she experienced occasional bouts of clinical depression
Clinical depression
Major depressive disorder is a mental disorder characterized by an all-encompassing low mood accompanied by low self-esteem, and by loss of interest or pleasure in normally enjoyable activities...
all through her life. After a skiing accident in 1984, she gained 75 pounds and became more and more depressed. In 1987, she checked into the Betty Ford Center
Betty Ford Center
The Betty Ford Center , is a non-profit, separately licensed residential chemical dependency recovery hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, that offers inpatient, outpatient, and day treatment for alcohol and other drug addictions as well as prevention and education programs for family and children...
. Making a comeback, Hemingway appeared on the cover of Playboy
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
magazine in May 1990, and she asked Playboy to hire Selig as the creative director for her cover story. It was shot in Belize
Belize
Belize is a constitutional monarchy and the northernmost country in Central America. Belize has a diverse society, comprising many cultures and languages. Even though Kriol and Spanish are spoken among the population, Belize is the only country in Central America where English is the official...
.
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
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
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
Godparent
A godparent, in many denominations of Christianity, is someone who sponsors a child's baptism. A male godparent is a godfather, and a female godparent is a godmother...
had molested her as a child; her father, Jack, and stepmother, Angela, resented the allegations and stopped speaking to her. Angela told People
People (magazine)
In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...
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."
She 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
Discovery Channel
Discovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
.
Death
On July 1, 1996, one day before the anniversary of her grandfather's own suicide, Hemingway was found dead in her studio apartment in Santa MonicaSanta Mônica
Santa Mônica is a town and municipality in the state of Paraná in the Southern Region of Brazil.-References:...
, at age 42. She had taken an overdose of phenobarbital
Phenobarbital
Phenobarbital or phenobarbitone is a barbiturate, first marketed as Luminal by Friedr. Bayer et comp. It is the most widely used anticonvulsant worldwide, and the oldest still commonly used. It also has sedative and hypnotic properties but, as with other barbiturates, has been superseded by the...
, according to the Los Angeles County coroner
Coroner
A coroner is a government official who* Investigates human deaths* Determines cause of death* Issues death certificates* Maintains death records* Responds to deaths in mass disasters* Identifies unknown dead* Other functions depending on local laws...
's findings one month later. Though her death was ruled a suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
, family members disputed this finding. Steve Crisman, Mariel Hemingway's then-husband in 1996, told People magazine that year, "This was the best I'd seen her in years. She had gotten herself back together." On a December 22, 2005, edition of Larry King Live
Larry King Live
Larry King Live is an American talk show hosted by Larry King on CNN from 1985 to 2010. It was CNN's most watched and longest-running program, with over one million viewers nightly....
, however, Mariel said she now accepts the fact that Margaux committed suicide.
Her remains were cremated and buried in the Hemingway family plot in the Ketchum Cemetery in Idaho
Idaho
Idaho is a state in the Rocky Mountain area of the United States. The state's largest city and capital is Boise. Residents are called "Idahoans". Idaho was admitted to the Union on July 3, 1890, as the 43rd state....
.
Filmography
- LipstickLipstick (film)Lipstick is a 1976 drama film directed by Lamont Johnson. Starring Margaux and Mariel Hemingway, it contains one of the most infamous scenes in motion picture history, showing an extremely graphic rape scene.- Plot :...
(1976) - Killer FishKiller FishKiller Fish is an Italian horror movie directed by Antonio Margheriti in 1979. The film, like many monster movies of the 1970s and 1980s, is very similar to Jaws.-Plot:...
(1979) - They Call Me Bruce?They Call Me Bruce?They Call Me Bruce? is a 1982 comedy action film starring Johnny Yune and Margaux Hemingway.The film was written by Tim Clawson and was directed by Elliott Hong...
(1982) - Over the Brooklyn BridgeOver the Brooklyn BridgeOver the Brooklyn Bridge is a comedy film directed by Menahem Golan.-Plot summary:Alby Sherman is a Jewish man whose father dies when he was young. He and his mother run a delicatessen in Brooklyn, but Alby dreams of opening his own restaurant in Manhattan, a project which is very expensive...
(1984) - Inner Sanctum (1991)
- Double Obsession (1992)
- Deadly Rivals (1993)
- Dangerous CargoDangerous CargoDangerous Cargo is a 1954 British crime film directed by John Harlow starring Jack Watling, Susan Stephen, Richard Pearson, Terence Alexander and John Le Mesurier.British crime reporter Percy Hoskins provided the story.-Cast:...
(1996) - Vicious Kiss (1996)