For the first time, the much-loved English model, actress and singer tells her own story in a new documentary by Sadie Frost.
But the working-class girl from Neasden in north-west London, whose shapeshifting career encompasses everything from modelling to movies, singing to fashion design, has closely guarded her private life with loving partner, actor Leigh Lawson.
Until, that is, Twiggy saw a reflection of herself in fellow multi-hyphenate, Sadie Frost, who convinced her to tell her story. "I'd been approached many times to do this and for whatever reason, backed away," the ebulliently down-to-earth Twiggy says.English model Twiggy, originally Lesley Hornby, in a London street.The parallels with Bram Stoker's Dracula star Frost — whose debut directorial feature was the documentary Quant, about British fashion designer Mary Quant, who played a prominent role in London's Swinging Sixties culture — are uncanny, Twiggy suggests. "She's got a similar career in that she started very young, was a model, went into acting and has been a designer," Twiggy says. "She's also been in the public eye for a long time, so she understands those pressures, and, like me, she's got a very close family."The youngest of three daughters, Twiggy's childhood was blissful, even though her mother struggled with her mental health . Her dad was a carpenter on movie sets, but that's as close as Twiggy thought she'd get to stardom.the profession was almost exclusively the domain of upper-class girls."I love Joanna, she makes me laugh so much," Twiggy says. "Those girls would work until they met their rich husband and married. Girls like me, from north-west London, didn't." And yet, Twiggy was spotted by a scout who thought she looked like Greta Garbo with her huge eyes. A test shoot was arranged, and they insisted she get a new 'do at Leonard of Mayfair. "I didn't want my hair cut in this posh salon, but was too shy and scared to say no," Twiggy laughs uproariously .The new elfin bob took seven hours. Photographer Barry Lategan snapped her in a natty chunky knit. Lewis hung the resulting portrait in his salon.hair cut and booked Twiggy for the splash that launched her career."Diana Vreeland was so powerful then; like Anna Wintour now," Twiggy recalls of the then editor-in-chief. "Once she took me under her wing and said, 'This is the girl', that was it. It's a bit of a Cinderella story."Just like fairytales before Disney got their hands on them, fame was scary at first. Fans from London to New York and Tokyo screamed in adulation like she was in The Beatles ."I was still Lesley at home," she says.The whirlwind that followed included shooting an album cover with David Bowie — 1973's Pin Ups — and a garden party at Sonny and Cher's, where she met Clint Eastwood and Paul Newman. Later, Phil Spector pulled a gun on Twiggy and her then-husband Michael Witney in a surreal and scary incident when they were invited to theBut, to borrow Lumley's turn of phrase, meeting Ken Russell was the "lightning bolt" that set Twiggy on the many pathways that followed. The Devils director was starstruck by Twiggy, introducing her to McCartney and essentially building his 1971 musical The Boy Friend around her. "At that time, he was the biggest filmmaker in England and had done Women in Love, one of my favourite films ever," Twiggy says.Twiggy was rewarded with two Golden Globes.Broadway followed, as did a recording career and Twiggy's TV variety show. When she went from modelling fashion to designing it, she was credited with saving beloved British department store Marks & Spencer."I'd admired her from afar, but we got close when I did her Tea with Twiggy podcast," Frost says. "Obviously, she's a national treasure, and incredibly resilient, reinventing herself across the decades.""Twiggy came from nowhere and took on the world as one of its most famous women, redefining what that looked like in '66, but she was only modelling for a very short period of her life," she says. Although asked many times, Twiggy resisted making a documentary on her life until her collaboration with Sadie Frost."There are so many facets; you could make a six-part TV series on her life easily." Twiggy stepped out of the shadow of controlling first boyfriend/manager Justin de Villeneuve and survived the highs and lows of alcoholic first husband, Michael Witney, who died at just 52, but not before the pair had treasured daughter, Carly."I've ducked and dived through my career and motherhood, sometimes consumed by overpowering relationships in which it was very difficult to define yourself," she says."It's a very personal thing when you're trying to translate someone's life, and I was so nervous when I first showed her," Frost recalls.Not that there weren't notes. "Twiggy's a lovely, lovely lady, but she's got huge opinions," Frost chuckles. "And of course her opinions matter.""I've been very fortunate, working with some amazing people, and I'm very lucky," she says.Twiggy releases in Australian cinemas on December 4
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