This programme contains
some strong language.
What happened to me you couldn't
plan in a million years, really.
I was as surprised, or probably more
surprised that it happened to me,
because it certainly wasn't
a grand ambition.
Oh, that's gorgeous.
It always makes me laugh
when you hear journalists say
to actors or people
in showbusiness, you know,
how did you plan your career?
I don't think that's a possibility.
They all ask, how did it all begin?
How did you get your name?
Where did you meet Justin?
I don't know.
What's that? Bird.
Mayfair 0667 was
the number of Lucie Clayton.
Training for the day when heads
will turn to look at them
at an academy in London are some of
Britain's models of the future,
for this is one of the country's
most up-to-date training schools
for models and mannequins.
Models at the time were, you know,
upper-class girls
who'd all gone to finishing school,
and it was a very rarefied world
that was very aspirational.
The proper court curtsy
that may well be needed
one day on presentation at court,
or at some royal occasion.
A lot of us looked very much
like each other,
and I think that was one of
the great bonuses.
You could... anybody would look like
anybody else.
A pointed lesson - how to pivot
round an umbrella and how to carry
it with not a trace of awkwardness.
23Girls from my sort of background
didn't become models.
Lesley!
All right.
Breakfast is ready.
I was born in Neasden in 1949,
and I was the third
of three girls to Nell and Norman.
That's my mum and dad.
We were working class, definitely,
but I never, ever felt that I didn't
have what I wanted.
A happy home, actually.
I had a lovely childhood.
My mum had issues
with her mental health,
which I think today she'd be
diagnosed as bipolar probably,
because for months and months
and months she'd be absolutely fine,
and then she'd get very low
and very depressed
and she'd have to go away
for a couple of weeks.
My dad was amazing through
that time, really,
because, you know,
he was mum and dad to me.
I wasn't really aware
until I was much older that,
you know, she had this condition
and she had it all her life.
Got lots of pictures of her
when she's small, you know.
It is nice.
We get them out and have a laugh
over some, some of them, you know.
Oh, this one was when she was
at school.
She's about, um, about six,
I suppose, there.
By the time I was 13 and a half,
14, I'd become a mod.
I was allowed out one night a week
and we went to a mod club in Harrow.
And if you were a mod,
the fashion was very specific.
It was almost like a uniform
because, I mean, I wore that
and my friends wore that.
But it was quite an amazing club.
We saw people like the Yardbirds,
Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck,
Georgie Fame,
Eric Burdon and the Animals.
I mean, this is all pre them
becoming major bands and rock stars.
I did get asked out by one boy,
and then he rang me and said,
"I'm so sorry,
"but I can't afford a girlfriend
and a new scooter,
"so I'm going for the scooter."
I got dumped for a scooter.
And then, we had the amazing
Barbara Hulanicki gave us Biba.
And that was like
a revelation to me.
And suddenly there was this new
youthful idea for clothes,
catering and designing clothes
for young people, for us.
You'd go into this store
and there was amazing music playing,
and there were beautiful
period lampshades,
feather boas everywhere and palm
trees, as well as clothes.
She used to come in on Saturdays,
see this incredible girl who
had this face like a Greta Garbo.
I mean, she was really beautiful.
And she would just stand there
and watch everything
that was going on.
She was like a ghost.
Because her eyes were really low
down in the face and huge.
The eye make-up and everything
was obviously her own idea.
I had a rag doll in my bedroom,
and she had these spiky eyelashes
underneath her eyes
and the long ones on the top.
So I kind of copied that.
Draw all the ones underneath.
I used to put three pairs
of eyelashes on the top.
I didn't wear foundation or powder
or anything.
It was all about the eyes.
I used to have a Saturday job
at a hairdressers
where my sister worked,
and Justin's brother worked.
And one day he came over
to see my sister over here,
and Justin gave him a lift
and I met Justin.
I was probably about 15 by then.
And he was in his...
he was about 25.
It wasn't very politically
correct now, thinking back,
but then I suppose it was
a different time.
And I have to say, you know,
whatever I think now...
..as a mature woman,
he was very respectful.
I mean, he was just friendly
at first.
And then over a period of months
he said, you know,
"Can I come and take you out?"
And we didn't really get into
a proper relationship until,
you know, after I was 16.
You know, my mum and dad
weren't too happy about it,
although he got my mum on his side
because he was quite sweet with her.
And, you know, there was
a kindness to him.
I met Justin about two years ago now
and I started going out with him.
You know, he knew I wanted
to be a model,
and he used to try
and take me to friends
who took photographs,
but they weren't very good.
A friend of Justin's worked on
a woman's magazine.
One of the editors there
met me and said,
"You'll never make a model.
You're too small and too slim."
She was too short. She was too thin.
She didn't have a bust.
She wasn't curvaceous.
She just wasn't what people
were looking for.
I remember going home
on the bus crying.
But she did say, "You've got a very
interesting pretty little face.
"Let's do some test shots."
And she said,
"But your hair's a mess."
So they sent me to Leonard's.
Too many teenagers nowadays
are inclined
to back-comb their hair
and make it look like beehives.
And they forgot actually,
what it is.
It's actually hair that should be
looked after well
and treated properly.
I presumed it would be a trim.
Oh, boy!
It was more than a trim.
I was in there for seven hours.
He sent me upstairs
to Daniel Galvin,
who's the brilliant colourist.
Did you see Barbara Streisand
on Saturday?
Yeah, I did.
She's fantastic.
She really is terrific.
Oh! She's gorgeous.
When he turned me round
to the mirror, it was amazing.
It was like, oh, my God!
And he sent me to this lovely
photographer called Barry Lategan,
who was a new young photographer,
to have my photograph taken
of his haircut.
I was totally overwhelmed
and intimidated.
I'd never been in a studio.
I'd never sat in front of a camera.
And he just sat me in a chair
and he had all his lights.
And then he went behind the camera.
I was nervous, but he was such
a sweet man, and he was so kind.
And he just said, "Just look at me
and, you know, look at the lens."
And ironically, that one photograph
is probably one of the most
well-known photographs of me.
And it was the first photograph
that was taken.
Is the shirt all right, chaps?
Yeah.
You ready?
Yeah.
Leonard hung a print of the haircut
in the lobby of the salon,
and one of his clients was
a lady called Deirdre McSharry,
who was the fashion editor
on the Daily Express.
I was working with
a rather famous model
in a studio quite late
the night before,
and she was very bad-tempered
and depressing.
And I was suddenly looking
at the photograph
of somebody infinitely different.
Very young, very sweet, very lovely,
and I thought, this is what we need.
So I met Deirdre a week later.
They took some more photographs
of me
and she said, "This is going to go
in the newspaper."
And it was really exciting
because that,
you know, that didn't happen
to people like us.
My dear dad, bless him,
he used to go down to
the corner shop every morning
to get the Daily Express to see
if there was anything in it,
and nothing came out,
and nothing came out.
And then suddenly,
about three weeks later,
he came rushing into my bedroom.
I was still in bed and he said,
"Oh, Les, Les, look.
It's a whole page."
From these great ravishing,
long-limbed beauties
came this child, this waif.
She looked about 12.
And the headline was Twiggy,
The Face of '66.
And she had this cute little haircut
that Leonard had done.
He also did my hair,
but not like that.
She had freckles.
She had huge, arresting eyes,
a genderfluid, little elfin face.
A friend used to tease me
about my skinny legs,
and he used to call me Sticks.
And then one day,
Sticks turned into Twiggy.
If that article had been
Lesley Hornby,
it wouldn't have had the impact.
Her name came like a lightning bolt.
Twiggy.
Twiggy. Twiggy. Twiggy.
Twiggy. Twiggy. Twiggy...
The second she arrived,
she blew the world apart.
It was just what the fashion
world was waiting for, actually.
Magazines were booking her
without having even seen her.
And my heart is yours...
And by lunchtime,
I think every other newspaper
in Fleet Street had rung,
saying how do we get
in touch with this charmer?
My first professional paid job
was with Peggy Moffitt,
because it was with Barry Lategan,
because he thought she would
look after me
and she could teach me
a bit about moving.
You know, I'd never done this...
by jumping into the fire.
I mean, it was mad, really.
That's in my soul
Started something
that I can't control
That's what happens
when I get...
We got deluged with offers
for modelling.
And we couldn't cope with it
at first.
You know, I never anticipated it.
And within about three weeks,
she was the top model.
There's no doubt about it.
My heart was yearning
Couldn't fight it if I tried
There's a part of...
Those original pictures that were
created by Barry Lategan,
Helmut Newton.
That incredible image of her
on the bicycle by Ron Traeger.
If you look at that photograph
of Twiggy on the bike,
it's such a fantastic picture
because it kind of embodies
everything that was about freedom
and sexual liberation.
Twiggy changed the face of fashion
by one simple thing -
she smiled. She smiled a lot.
In fact, I can barely think of her
when she wasn't smiling.
That she was transcending herself
and all of us,
whether we knew it or not,
into this other world.
I love the idea that
the talent was spotted
by Deirdre McSharry on the Express
and Vogue followed suit.
It makes me laugh.
Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, oh, yeah.
It was 1966, and I was as green
as the grass in your garden.
Is that 10.00 in the morning?
Yeah.
But I'll be working all night.
It was very apparent
I had to leave school.
And I can remember my dad
kind of saying,
if I don't give you permission
to leave
and you don't try
and follow this dream,
you might never forgive me,
which I would have done
because I loved him,
but quite wise of him, really.
But he said,
"If you're going to do it,
"Justin has got to go to
all the photoshoots with you."
Because, as my dad said, "I know
what these photographers are like."
Stay, baby. Stay, stay.
Being a photographer,
and I think I've said it before,
it's rather like working
in a sweet shop,
that you just try not to mess around
with the liquorice allsorts.
Undo the jacket.
Come on now, come on, work.
Come on. Straighten your hair up.
Go into profile. That way.
Yeah, it's not as easy
as you think it is,
and it's not as glamorous.
If you go out on location
in the winter,
little summer dresses -
it's blooming freezing.
I mean, it's very hard work.
Round to me, darling.
A bit more... perfect. Perfect.
In those days, there were no such
things as stylists.
There might have been at Vogue at
the very top level, but not for us.
ALARM CLOCK
I have to be up, in here,
made up by 9.15 in the morning
until it could be any time at night.
We were expected, obviously,
to do all our own make-up,
but also to change our hair.
But you had to bring wigs and
hairpieces and be able to do them.
We had false fingernails
and you'd got to be able to change
the colour of that.
So you're carrying your nail varnish
about with you.
You had to have black tights,
clear tights.
You had to have polo necks
in black, beige and in white,
in case you were doing coats.
You had to bring your own gloves,
your earrings and bracelets
and things like this.
You couldn't afford a car,
so you went everywhere by tube.
And you'd put your hair in huge
rollers and tie a scarf over the top
and people go, "She's a model."
You felt very good about that.
You weren't paid until six months
after the job.
You were always anxious
because if you were one minute late,
they'd take half an hour
off your hourly pay.
And the photographers
were pretty horrid to us
because that was their job
to be horrid to us.
"You look like a pig.
"Go home until you get
nicer looking."
It was OK.
She certainly, I don't think,
did all the stuff that we did.
In just one year, Twiggy has moved
from the grammar school classroom
to scale fashion's dizziest heights.
And then when Twiggy emerged,
I met her and I thought,
"Oh, my God, she's got this fabulous
c*ck accent."
Twiggy, want some tea?
Oh, I'd love you forever
if you made me a cup of tea.
Which was very unusual
in those days.
"My dear girl..."
I don't know if you heard her laugh,
but she has a laugh
that is like a truck driver's laugh.
Ha-ha-ha! That's her laugh.
Aha ha-ha! And it's coming
out of this beautiful girl.
Oh!
Oh! It's coming out of me nose.
Do you feel out of place
because you started
from ordinary
working-class beginnings?
No. No. Why should I?
Being a working-class girl
and me being a working-class guy,
we had a kind of pretty
straightforward attitude to life.
And she handled fame, I think,
in the way that most working-class
people would,
which was like,
what you saw was what you got.
I don't think it really matters
what class your family come from.
If you're good enough in your job,
you know, you make it anyway.
It was very fashionable suddenly
to be working class.
I think we can say Twiggy is sort
of a mini queen
of the new social aristocracy.
And it's...
You can't really talk about Twiggy
without putting her
into the context of the times.
Running around the streets of
London, Carnaby Street.
And she really reflected her time.
She was youthquake personified.
The swinging youth who have given
staid and sober old London
its recent swinging metaphor.
Younger people from a working-class
background
were getting the opportunities
that they'd never had before
to become photographers,
directors, writers.
Fashion, music, art, film
had a new sort of working-class
voice, really.
There was a level of rebellion,
a level of taking ownership
into your own hands
as to what you want to listen to,
who you want to be,
how you want to say
who you are through what you wear.
People were probably feeling
more included for the first time.
And I think Twiggy
had a huge part to play in that.
You know, when Twiggy burst onto
the scene,
models did not look like her.
She was gamine, she was boyish.
She was sort of iron-board flat,
as they say.
Blurring the lines
between male and female.
Having a really generous
understanding of it being OK
to wear each other's clothes.
But she brought in this sort of
inner sensuality,
and she used her body
in really beautiful ways
that I think spoke instantly
to women,
as opposed to just
for the pleasure of men.
I was getting bookings to go
to Paris for the Paris collections.
Sex, feminin. 41 kilo.
Twiggy, en francais, Brandy...
SPEAKS FRENCH
Yes. Again. A little more of
a smile. Very natural.
That's it. Twiggy, remember,
you're making your own look.
That's it. There. Fine.
She's a very strong example of
the current teenage trend.
She believes in the clothes
she wears.
She likes the music that is the
fashion at the moment.
And these combined make her
the successful face.
Also, she... she doesn't try
and resemble someone else,
which is the mistake
a lot of current models make
in trying to look like
Jean Shrimpton.
The models that really stand out are
the ones that retain
their personality.
And they're inherently the ones that
become the most successful -
because there's an element
of the person
that you're photographing
in every picture.
Having watched careers skyrocket,
they skyrocket because you're
the right person
at the right moment.
You know, in the right time
with the kind of right
either face or attitude,
or combination of the two.
After about the first four
or five months,
when I'd hit the headlines
and I was in lots of magazines -
and, you know, the new face,
blah, blah, blah, blah -
there was this big article in one
of the daily newspapers
saying that these big four
photographers
who discovered all the models
were banning me.
LAUGHTER
I was banned.
That they... Because they didn't
discover me.
Their decision, says David Bailey,
Britain's highest paid photographer,
is because she is too amateur
in her approach.
Declared Bailey: "She's also grossly
unprofessional.
"I had her booked for an evening
recently,
"and her manager appeared
and said that they
"were going out to dinner instead."
Montgomery's agent, David Puttnam,
said:
"The trouble is that
Justin de Villeneuve
"insists on being in the studio.
"Models will start bringing
mothers next."
It was also the case that
the photographers
didn't really like the idea that
this manager figure was there.
They were used to dealing
with agents.
I remember being on set,
and we were about to be
photographed,
and there coming through the door
was Twiggy and Justin.
Justin was saying that he insisted
on seeing the photographer,
to show Twiggy.
And he said that he
was her manager.
And I thought, "Ooh, this is smart.
"This is the way to do it -
have a manager.
"Oh, how clever of her."
Prior to Twiggy, no model had
had a manager.
That was completely unique.
Justin was seen as a
Svengali figure,
but I actually think in hindsight
really wasn't.
What he was was a smart opportunist
who saw something special.
Justin, although his name's
Justin de Villeneuve,
was actually Nigel
something or other.
He created his persona.
Justin de Villeneuve...
De Villeneuve.
..is a very aristocratic name.
It's hardly a working-class name.
We'd come back from
a big job abroad,
and I would go to Biba and buy
a few dresses
and he'd go to Savile Row
and order ten Savile Row suits.
LAUGHTER
I haven't got such a large wardrobe.
About 30 suits.
LAUGHTER
100 shirts.
Everything OK?
Yeah.
You look very nice.
Do you like the material?
Oh, it's...
What is it?
Er, Worsted.
Have it like that with the stitches,
start a new fashion.
The cars we went through -
E-Type Jags, Lamborghinis,
Rolls-Royces.
You know, I feel that, really,
we're putting on
a little bit of a show for them.
But you didn't... Don't upstage me.
Don't upstage me.
And, er...
LAUGHTER
And my dad used to get
really worried.
Understand... I thought he was
overreacting, but he wasn't.
It's taken Twiggy and Justin
a mere month
to translate an idea
into the reality of Twiggy Models.
Now they're producing 15,000 dresses
and suits every week.
They were teenage clothes -
obviously, I was a teenager -
and they were very much designed
around me.
But I had a great input
in the design.
- I like this one.
- LAUGHTER
I like this one. Playsuit and
shorts.
You know, there's... I like
them all, obviously.
You know, they don't go out
if I don't like them.
It was a great joy to me
to go in and spend
the whole day with Paul and Pam,
the designers.
And we'd sit and draw and pick out
fabrics and buttons and...
And I love that creative process.
It's fabulous.
But Twiggy is confident of winning
orders worth a million dollars
if she makes her trip to America.
It's all very well to have all that
happen in England.
But most people want to try
and conquer America.
The lady who was the editor
of American Vogue then
was an amazing woman called
Diana Vreeland.
When you were touched by
Diana Vreeland,
you were anointed.
When you were touched by her,
you were touched by the hand of God.
Then, in '67, she brought me over
to America, to New York.
She put me with these amazing
photographers
who took incredible photographs.
And I was on the cover, and inside
for pages and pages.
EXCITED CHATTER
I didn't expect, you know,
when I got to the airport,
there'd be teenage fans
screaming my name,
and going into a press conference
with the American press.
Twiggy! Over here! Twiggy!
"What do you think of New York,
Twiggy?"
"I've just arrived!"
LAUGHTER
"All I've seen is the runway!"
What do you think of this reception
you're getting here today?
Fantastic. I can't believe it.
LAUGHTER
What do you think about all the
things that have happened to you?
You're only 17 years old.
You're making more money
than the Prime Minister.
Am I?
You are.
LAUGHTER
Oh, you know, it's just...
You know, I like it, obviously.
But, you know, I don't know
why it's happened.
I'm looking forward to going
into the helicopter.
I want to see the Empire State
Building and go to the top.
So I went in to do a modelling job
for American Vogue.
It was going to be a fashion sh**t
around New York,
with me at the zoo,
up the Empire State.
What do I think of her?
- It'll last...
- INDISTINCI don't know, it'll last
a couple of weeks -
like everything else.
And again, another incredible
photographer
called Melvin Sokolsky.
The first day of the sh**t
with Melvin,
I was upstairs in this
big department store.
He wanted me coming out in the dress
that we were plugging,
with bags -
like I'd been shopping.
And he said, "When you come out
of the front door
"of the department store,
the limo is at the kerb.
"I want you to walk
from the front door
"to the limo," because he said
there's a crowd gathering.
He was trying to disperse them
because he didn't want them
in the shop -
and they wouldn't go.
So he or one of his people
came up with this idea.
He said, "Come back to the studio.
"I'm going to take a load of
headshots of you,
"and we're going to make them
into masks.
"And if people get in the picture,
they're going to wear your face."
It was quite overwhelming.
OK. Don't worry, Twiggy, you won't
go out
if it's going to be dangerous.
You've got two elevators.
They've got to go first.
You've got to get in the elevator
first.
Can we just film? Don't let them
out yet.
Let the photographer know
that they are coming
before we let them walk out of here.
Like all crowds, you know,
they get very excited.
"Oh, Twiggy! Oh, my God!"
Then they want to touch you.
And as I go through,
I hear one policeman say
to the other,
"We're never going to hold
them back, Joe!"
And I went...
I was so frightened.
The bodyguard they'd hired
to look after me
just picked me up under his arm,
and he ran me through.
And he put me through the window
of the limo.
And I remember laying on
the limo floor, sobbing.
And all my eyelashes had come off
and, yeah, it was scary.
And in the end, the pictures
with the people
with the masks ended up winning them
lots of prizes.
I became, like, celebrity status.
I was on the Johnny Carson Show,
which was the biggest chat show
in America.
And then I was invited to go to LA.
Sonny and Cher threw a party
for me on their lawn.
And they were two of the biggest
stars in America.
And meeting people like
Clint Eastwood
and Steve McQueen and...
I mean, again, it was
quite surreal, really.
And what was extraordinary - you
know, there was me, you know, I was
17 and a half or whatever,
mixing in the world of adult...
I mean, anyone over 21
seemed quite old.
Is this Beverly Hills we're at now?
No, Encino.
Where's Beverly Hills?
The other side of that hill.
I was thrown into a world that I
knew nothing about, you know?
Hey, did you see...?
Yeah, I loved that...
OVERLAPPING VOICES
Isn't it amazing, when you think
about it, in this day and age?
And I did feel a little
out of my depth.
But on the other hand, you know,
I was being so looked after.
Says they're number two.
We can't argue with that.
I think he protected her.
At that very vulnerable age,
a teenage girl,
to then be on television
every minute -
and in the newspapers
and in magazines.
Walk down the street and everybody
knows who you are.
And in those days, nobody asked
how you felt.
I was offered by a big company
in Japan
to go over there and do some
modelling.
Got off the plane.
It seemed like hundreds -
it probably wasn't -
and they all came rushing at me,
shouting at me in Japanese,
and I just burst into tears.
So all the front of the papers
the papers the next day
was me crying.
The actuality of being famous
is odd and strange,
and for that to be thrust
into your life
when you're still figuring out
who you are,
I don't think you can really
ever prepare
for something so ridiculous.
Hello!
Because I went literally overnight
from being kind of quite a shy,
introspective schoolgirl...
You'd like to speak to Twiggy?
Well, she's feeding the ducks
at the moment, love.
..to being known virtually
all around the world.
LAUGHTER
So it was a bit peculiar.
He'll be all right, Twig.
We'll put it... We'll put it in a
box and we'll take it with us.
Put it in the box.
I haven't got a box.
And they'll look after it.
We'll pay the man to look
after it...
I've never been a very, you know,
big extrovert.
The thought of entering a big room
with loads of people
makes my stomach turn over
to this day.
The loss of being able to have
any type of anonymity
can be a real shock.
A lot of the publicity
seems to suggest
you're rather sort of a sexless
sort of girl.
Looks - is it a boy, is it a girl?
- No, it's Twiggy.
- LAUGHTER
How do you feel about that? Do you
mind about that? I don't mind, no.
It's a tough industry to be in
at such a young age.
What are your statistics now?
31, 23, 32.
Constantly being picked apart
and being judged on how you look.
What's your weight?
She would do TV chat shows,
and I always thought it was so rude
that the interviewer would comment
on her weight.
What do you both think that Twiggy
would be doing now
if she, let's say, gained 25lbs?
- Call her Trunky.
- LAUGHTER
What?
Trunky.
But the fashion writers tell us
that the bosom is back.
Do you feel perhaps you
can't compete?
But the bosom's never been out,
really.
I got knocked down for being
too thin
and flat-chested and...
But, you know, that's what
I look like.
Do you control your diet
in order to stay thin?
No, I...
You eat anything you want?
And then I got the whole thing
about being blamed
for being too thin
and encouraging girls not to eat.
But they report that many
German schoolgirls
gave up eating breakfast and lunch
in the hopes of thinning down
to Twiggy dimensions.
So I used to always come out
and say,
"Look, you know, I don't diet.
"I'd love to put on a little bit
of weight."
You know, I was just young.
I was young and, you know, skinny.
I'll just bring you a cup of tea.
Any sauce?
What do you want, ordinary or...?
Hot sauce.
Everybody all of a sudden
has an idea
that they know you physically better
than you do.
Got any pictures on the beach? No.
In the bikini?
I'd like to see that.
Oh, it just makes me so mad.
It just makes me so mad.
Have you discovered what men think
of this? The men you know?
They hate it.
Oh, have we ever!
What do they say?
"That is THE most obnoxious haircut
I have ever seen in my whole life."
In other words, you dress
for each other
rather than for men?
Yeah.
Bert Stern was doing
this documentary on me,
and he said,
"I've got this mate.
"He's a young and
upcoming comedian."
I mean, he wasn't the famous
Woody Allen that he became.
He said, "I want to put you
in a studio
"and he'll interview you."
Take three. Slate.
He's great, huh?
He's better than an actual slate.
LAUGHTER
What are your views
on serious matters?
Like what? I don't know, who's your
favourite philosopher?
I haven't got one. I don't know any.
Every time I think about it,
I can remember the feeling
and my knees going weak,
and my tummy going over.
Do you get a chance...? I bet you
get a chance to read much,
being a model.
Read what, books?
Oh, you know, the great literature.
It's just so - I have to curse -
f*cking typical!
I'm sorry. It is so patronising.
This need to make inferior.
I remember, because I'm sitting
on my hands.
And I remember clenching
my thighs together
and thinking, "Don't cry."
I felt really embarrassed.
To try to catch her out.
What 15-year-old can tell you who
their favourite philosopher is?
Then, in my panic,
my inner panic, I said to him...
..who's yours?
Oh, I... You know, I like...
I like them all.
Who?
All your basic philosophers.
Who?
Just all of them.
I don't know their names, though.
What are their names?
Oh, there's a host of them.
LAUGHTER
I like your Greeks, your Germans,
your...
Your enlightened philosophers,
your eclectics.
And he went, "Oh, your Greeks
and your Romans."
And I said, "Yeah, but what
are their names?"
I don't know their names, though.
What are their names?
Oh...
I got a call to say that
Vogue wanted to do
a photograph of myself
and David Bowie,
which I was thrilled about.
I mean, you've got to remember,
at that period he was huge.
Your name is a lyric
in one of the songs.
Yeah.
It was a song called
Drive-In Saturday.
Let me put my arms
around your head
Gee, it's hot,
let's go to bed...
And I was at home and it
came on the radio.
His name was always Buddy
And he'd shrug and ask to stay
She'd sigh like Twig
the Wonder Kid...
- NEEDLE SCRATCH
- Oh, my God!
David Bowie just sang my name
in a song!
And I can remember running
to the record shop,
and I didn't know the name
of the song.
I think I kind of sang
a bit of the chorus,
and he said, "Oh, that's
Drive-In Saturday."
And we flew to Paris to do
the photograph,
because Bowie was recording there.
He was such a lovely guy.
So open, so friendly, so bright.
I think the photograph is
a marvellous photograph, actually.
And I love the make-up we had on.
And that was done because I had
a suntan at the time
and he was very, very pale.
And she'd sigh like
Twig the Wonder Kid
And turn her face away
She's uncertain if she likes him
But she knows she really
loves him...
Completely inspirational.
Wow, I remember when Ken Russell
first showed me these films.
And I just fell instantly in love
with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.
And, you know, nobody
danced quite like them.
I'd never even thought of acting
or doing anything like that.
But then I met Ken Russell.
And he asked to see me
about this project
that actually never happened.
But I became good friends
with him and his wife,
Shirley, who did all the designing
of the clothes for all his films.
And you've got to remember,
in that period,
Ken Russell was the biggest director
in England.
He became my mentor, really.
In 1968, there was a new production
of the stage play,
the musical The Boy Friend,
and I'd gone to see it.
The next night, I was having dinner
with Ken and Shirley,
and I was just going on and on.
I loved it. It was brilliant.
And at the end of the evening,
after quite a few glasses
of champagne, he suddenly said,
"Yeah, I've always wanted
to do a musical.
"Let's do a musical
of The Boy Friend.
"And you can play Polly Browne,"
which is the lead girl.
"And it'd be so much fun!
What do you think?"
And I thought, "Oh, he's just had
a lot of champagne.
"He'll forget about this
in the morning."
And he rang me the next day, sober,
and said, "What do you think?"
And I said, "Oh, my goodness.
I don't know."
You know, I'd never acted before.
Ken loved the idea, and Justin
wanted me to do it and I wanted
to do it. But when he went to the
film company who owned it, you know,
they said, "Oh, great," you know?
"Ken Russell, smashing.
But we don't want her."
It was like that. Because I don't
blame him. I mean, I was a model.
They didn't know if I
could do it or not.
And Ken really fought for me
for, you know, a few months.
And he really... He could've gone
with somebody else.
But he didn't, he fought
and got me.
Which was funny, because when
we got the deal,
we had dinner, celebrating,
and he said,
"Can you sing and dance?"
I said, "No."
He said, "Well, you'd better go
and learn."
Very few performers I can think of,
or actors,
go into their first film
as the lead.
Julie Andrews in Mary Poppins,
Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl,
and there's Twiggy
in The Boy Friend.
So she's in excellent company
in that respect.
Come along, folks, what's happening?
Action!
To have
We plot to have...
Ken was the most
perfectionist director
I've ever worked with.
And if you didn't give 101%
all the time,
Ken would really lose his rag.
We scheme about, and dream about
And we've been known...
No, more this way, Twiggy!
We sigh for him
And cry for him
And we would gladly die for him
That certain thing called
the boyfriend.
I find her a very unique person.
Take one.
Thank you.
Of all the people I've worked with,
she comes nearer than anything
to perfection
in someone I've ever met.
This is a simple, honest truth.
She seems totally truthful.
She can't do a false thing
against anyone.
That doesn't mean to say she's
insipid and terrible.
She's got a mind of her own,
very good imagination,
and she is like
a rejuvenating force.
Very nervous when we
started filming,
but all the cast
were wonderful to me
and kind of took me
under their wing.
And I made some really good friends
from that film.
And Ken was amazing.
They'd been rehearsing a while,
and I was the last one to be cast.
And I walked in and Twiggy
was in the arms
of Christopher Gable, dancing.
I was struck dumb.
I was amazed that she was doing it,
because I'd been studying dancing
since I was five years old.
And so, you know, I was doing
what comes naturally.
And Christopher Gable
was a ballet star,
and the rest of the cast
were dancers,
and Twiggy was the newcomer.
We struck up a great relationship,
and she made me laugh a lot.
And I think that Twigs will have
learnt a huge amount
by working with Ken Russell.
Massive amount.
What an education!
Ken took the risk
to have this raw material,
if you like,
that he'd acquired - Twiggy -
and turn it into
something breathtaking.
I think that this is a girl who...
Maybe it's her background,
I don't know, but she was open.
Just open to anything that came.
And she made the most of it.
I always say to people, it was like
finding the Secret Garden.
It was like, "Oh, my God,
this is amazing!"
It was a wonderful,
wonderful experience.
Very amazing learning experience.
And from that day on, when I was in
the middle of filming, I thought,
"This is what I want to do."
Ken's vision of effectively
framing it -
a play within a play, a show within
a show -
was brilliant because it showcased
those great numbers
in the score, as these grandiose,
you know, flamboyant
and overly produced...
All the traits that you would
somewhat expect in an iconic film.
To see her be able to be
multi-dimensional
and still have the acting
come through...
Do you know what I mean? To be
quirky and funny and vulnerable
and all of that, and still do that
in an environment of musicality?
She's such a spirit,
and so unbelievably talented
as an actor.
I thought Twigs in The Boy Friend
was enchanting.
There was something so open
about her.
She doesn't have artifice.
She doesn't play games.
She works hard and tries her hardest
and does it and gives it to you.
She's a great...
She's a generous soul and she's
a generous performer.
When the film came out,
I got nominated for two
Golden Globe Awards,
which was very nice.
And then, lo and behold,
I won them.
I won one for
Most Promising Newcomer
and one for Best Actress
in a Musical/Comedy.
I'm very proud of them
and, er, they sit on my mantelpiece.
LAUGHTER
She was just THE leading model
three years ago,
and now she's come zooming back
to glory again
in the movie The Boy Friend.
And the reviews are just fantastic
of her performance in that.
Will you welcome Twiggy and Justin?
I was on a roll.
I was loving my life.
I was travelling and
meeting amazing people.
"Twiggy is sublime," says one.
"Lovely, endearing, exquisite."
That's delicious, isn't it?
I can't believe it.
Justin or "Joostin", do you like?
"Justan" de Villeneuve.
Justan?
Yeah, Justin. No, Justin.
Justin.
Just in time. You heard...
It was all falling apart then,
because he...
I think he was probably feeling that
I was separating myself from him.
We were around at the time that she
was offered the job with Ken Russell
to do The Boy Friend,
and I remember...
I remember Justin, I think he was
very, very nervous of her going into
the movie, because he was suddenly
dealing with people who were
a different
professional level from him.
And also, he was...
I don't know what went on, but he
was being too pushy with Ken
and Ken banned him from the set,
which was actually kind of
a relief for me.
Justin had his ideas
about the movie,
what the movie should be,
and there was no place for that.
Ken Russell was... You know,
he was the director.
Justin, I would say, was maybe -
I hope I'm not being mean -
was in way out of his depth.
Twiggy became a little bit phoney
because she was bored with fashion.
Being a model wasn't sufficient.
So, when she stopped,
it wasn't to do a film,
it was just to stop doing that.
Because we felt that everyone
would be bored with her.
And we knew that in the last
sort of three years -
the last year, obviously,
we've been doing the film -
the last three years that people
would say, "Oh, Twiggy's finished."
We were aware that would happen.
"She's a has-been." Which we,
you know, can take that.
I think quite early on,
Justin panicked at the
loss of control,
because he saw the loss of control
as inevitable.
And trying to work out
how this could last,
I think he thought it
was a phenomenon.
Whereas actually, when you
think about it,
Twiggy wasn't a phenomenon.
She was something that was very
grounded, very real.
The balance wasn't even.
Twiggy was the star.
They had, you know, this amazing
relationship going.
But I wouldn't call
that a partnership.
I think a partnership has to come
with both feeling
who they are within the team.
You... Er, you two are engaged now?
"Officially," it says.
Is that true?
Yes, sort of.
Sort of.
- Sort of officially?
- LAUGHTER
He was, you know, often asking
to get married.
But I thought I was too young,
which I was. I was a teenager.
I don't really want to get
married young, that's all.
I'd get married. It's Twiggy that
doesn't want to get married.
I'll get married one day.
Sorry to do that.
- LAUGHTER
- Really?
Oh, I'd get married.
You'd get married now?
Yeah.
But Twiggy wants to wait?
And I think, like most
teenage relationships,
you kind of grow out of each other.
And I think that's kind of
what happened.
Do you ever have rows?
Oh, yeah.
Good rows? I mean, good, healthy
rows or quick rows?
Quick ones.
Well, I usually end up crying.
And that signifies the end of
the row, does it?
Cos I'd been so protected,
you know, from the ages of 15 to 20,
you know, I'd lived in almost,
like, a bird cage.
You know, I didn't go out,
I didn't hang out with my friends,
I didn't...
Because what happened to me
happened, I worked.
And I was either, you know, at home
with Mum and Dad and my sisters,
or travelling with Justin.
You know, I don't think I was...
I wasn't really in love.
I was too young, I think.
It was probably infatuation
in the beginning.
And then, you know,
many years later, one finds out.
I didn't know at the time,
but I think he was philandering
a little bit and...
Anyway, very complicated.
You know, without going into detail,
it wasn't a happy time.
And in the end, you know,
I broke it off
one way or the other.
Twiggy rose effortlessly to fame
in the trendy '60s,
and within a year she was the most
sought after model in the world.
But at the peak of her brief
modelling career,
Twiggy retired.
Hello, it's me.
Now, at 22, comes a carefully
planned breakthrough into films.
I was then offered a movie called W.
Directed by a lovely American
director called Richard Quine.
Has he told you who your
leading man is yet?
No, I want to know.
Tell her, man.
I want to know.
Michael Witney.
W-I-T-N-E-Y.
Michael Witney. And he's done
seven pilots, Merv,
and not one of them has sold.
Mm. Oh.
And he's the leading man
on every one of them.
And we looked at him and said,
"It's impossible.
"This man has just got to make it."
Hello, my wife on line two.
How are you?
I think it took about three months
to sh**t in LA,
so that was nice.
And that's when I kind of realised
that there were other people
in the world,
and I kind of got a big crush
on Michael.
My mum always says it was
love at first sight,
which is so cute to hear about,
you know,
how your mum and dad met.
It's nice to...
..have it on film when they,
you know, first fell in love.
It's quite cute.
Another extraordinary thing, too,
about you,
I mean, you had no formal training
as an actress... No.
..did you, at all?
But, I mean, the film I did last,
which was, you know,
a total failure, W, was just
not a very good film.
But I loved doing it
and I learned a lot.
I don't think she takes herself
too seriously.
You know what I mean?
But do you want to be a star?
A movie star?
Er, I love doing films.
Yeah, I love it. Yeah.
I don't know about being a star,
though.
It's just good fun, making a film.
She lives to be alive
and not to be successful.
And to be... And to connect.
She's rare.
Moving to LA kind of gave me a bit
of a break and some freedom.
It was very different
than living in the UK.
This was a new chapter for me.
What's interesting about
girls growing up
is that sometimes they do reflect
the man that they're with.
And when Twiggy and Justin
were together,
she was his little girl, you know?
And then, when she met Michael,
she seemed to blossom and grow
and become more of a woman.
I think, when I met Michael,
it was actually the first
I fell head over heels
in love with somebody.
And the first few years together
in California were amazing,
and we had a great life.
And a new career opened up
by being in Los Angeles.
Never had a bad dream, baby
I didn't share with you
Seems like a good time dream
All a-comin' true
All a-comin' true, sweet babe
Keep a-comin' true
In spite of anything I say
No matter what I do...
Cos of my doing The Boy Friend,
it opened up more doors.
And because it was a musical,
I got offered a recording deal -
which led to me doing my first
proper album.
Here I go again
Off down the road again
Thinking thoughts
Days gone by
Here I am again
Singing my songs again...
You know, I think it's important
to remember that
at that period of time,
that period of music making
and record making,
there was no autotune,
no fixing things.
You know, you had to be able
to do it. And she can do it.
Swirls of giant colours swam
madly through my head
I looked around to find you...
I did a big concert tour in England
and ended up at the Albert Hall,
which is pretty scary.
And I filled it as well,
but it was scary.
If morning's echoes
says we've sinned
Well, it was what I wanted now
And if we're victims of the night
I won't be blinded by the light
Just call me angel of the morning
Angel
Just touch my cheek
before you leave me
Baby
Just call me angel of the morning
Angel...
I got offered a TV series -
a variety series.
We filmed one every week,
so you'd rehearse,
you know, on the Monday,
Tuesday, Wednesday,
and then you'd go into the studio
and record.
When will the day be?
The big day may be tonight.
LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
Ginger La Rue!
And because of my knowledge
that I'd soaked up from Ken,
and he'd introduced me to all
these amazing singers
from the '20s and '30s,
we did lots of those songs
on my show and I loved it.
We were kids from a small street
We did very well on Wall Street
Though I never owned
a share of stock...
Every week, I'd have
on a special guest.
Hi, chicks.
David Essex.
Well, well. Look what's
just dropped out
of a cornflake package.
Can I join you?
I really wanted to have
Bryan Ferry on
because I was a huge
fan of Roxy Music,
and the director, for some reason,
decided it'd be fun to do it,
we were like school kids.
Don't know much about
science books
Don't know much about
the French I took
But I do know that I love you
And I know that if
you love me, too
What a wonderful world
this would be...
Somebody showed it to me about a
year ago, and it's very sweet.
What's frightening -
we both look so young!
But then we were, I suppose!
That's me and Bing Crosby.
Aw!
And I got to sing with him!
Amazing.
Have Yourself A Merry Little
Christmas. I was very nervous.
Have yourself
a merry little Christmas
Let your heart be light...
Usually for TV - well, often -
they record it and you lip-sync.
But Bing refused to lip-sync.
He liked singing live.
So we had to sing it live.
Have yourself a
merry little Christmas
Make the Yuletide g*y...
We shot it in the September.
Then he went off to play golf
in Spain,
and that's when he had his
massive heart attack and died.
Here we are, as in olden days
Happy golden days of yore
Faithful friends...
So when that Christmas show
went out, he wasn't around.
So have yourself
A merry little Christmas
Now.
I'm very proud of that.
A producer friend of mine
introduced me to Spector,
one of the biggest record producers
of that period.
He invited me to go up to his house
in the Hollywood Hills.
Well, it was more than a house,
it was a huge Spanish mansion.
Luckily, Michael was with me.
I rang the doorbell.
I was a bit nervous.
And the door opened
and this kind of big bruiser guy
with, you know,
a broken nose and everything went,
"Oh, hello, Twigs. How are you?"
And he was from London.
And he took us through.
And it was all very dark,
all the windows were covered
with curtains.
He showed us into this
amazing drawing room.
And we waited and we waited
and we waited.
And we were there for
probably over an hour -
until, you know, Michael said,
"I don't think he's coming.
"I think we should go."
And then, over the loudspeaker
system...
LAUGHTER
..came this kind of
maniacal voice, saying,
"Ah-ha-ha! I'm not going
to call you Twiggy.
"Ah-ha-ha!
"I'm not going to call you Twiggy."
And the door in the far corner
of the room opened
and Phil Spector appeared.
He came over, and I said,
"Hello, it's lovely to meet you."
He kept saying, "I'm not
going to call you Twiggy."
And I said, "Well, that's fine,
that's..."
And then he got out
a pack of cigarettes,
and he took two out
and put them both in his mouth
and lit...
I mean, it was really peculiar.
So he had these two cigarettes
sticking out of his mouth.
I tried to keep the conversation
going as normally as possible,
and then he kind of
walked across the room.
And as he turned,
he went into his jacket
and he pulled out a handgun.
I was like, "Oh, my God!"
And Michael just grabbed me,
and we managed to run out
and we heard one g*nsh*t go off.
And I was absolutely hysterical.
We got out of the house
and in the car,
and I cried all the way home.
Knowing what happened later,
I feel very lucky that we got out.
My career was still blossoming.
I was working in LA and in London.
Michael was struggling a bit,
but he landed a big beer commercial
playing a cowboy,
and it was shot in the desert
in Nevada.
Michael went out with the boys
on the commercial
and got very drunk one night,
and that's the first time I'd
kind of seen that other side.
Er...
It was... I didn't really
worry about it
because I just thought
it was a one-off.
But I think it was probably
a warning sign
that I didn't kind of pick up on.
Because when you're in love
with somebody, you kind of think,
"Oh, well, it won't happen again."
Do you foresee the day when
you're going to get married?
I mean, do you want to get married?
Oh, yeah. Mm. Very much.
I'd like to have children.
You would? Mm.
Not outside of a married
relationship? Not really.
I mean, I'm not... I'm not all for,
"Oh, you must get married."
I think it's up to people.
For me, I'd like to be married
when I have children,
but that's just my personal view.
I was 28 when we got married,
which, actually, in those days
was quite late to get married.
I wanted to get married. I thought
it would be a nice thing to do.
I knew Mum and Dad would like it,
although I think Dad, certainly,
was slightly worried
about Michael's problem.
But he would promise me
that it wouldn't happen again.
And it didn't, often,
for months and months and months.
So, rightly or wrongly, we went...
But I'm... You know, I'm glad we
did, because then I got pregnant
with my gorgeous Carly.
And then your life
changes completely
because, suddenly, you give birth
to a little creature
who you love more than anything
you can imagine you can love.
You are their protector
and their everything,
and my bond with my daughter is...
..amazing.
And, you know...
..I just thank...
thank everybody that I had her.
Motherhood's suiting you.
Oh, thank you.
Are you enjoying it?
Yeah. It's hard work.
I think all mothers are amazing,
I really do.
I can see why there's
a Mother's Day now.
LAUGHTER
Motherhood is a huge adjustment,
and to be working and have a child
is just complicated.
She's very contemporary because
it mustn't have been easy then.
It's not even easy now.
A fashion legend before she was 20,
she has since appeared in films
and sung and danced her way
through her own TV series,
and now, just into her third decade,
she's about to try her hand
at yet another career -
that of a serious actress.
My guest is Twiggy!
APPLAUSE
Every actor or actress
has got a favourite thing
that they've done
or that they're proud of,
and one of mine, certainly, is
the television version of Pygmalion.
It was a lot of work, but it was...
Hard work never hurt anyone,
my mum always said.
She's no use. I've got all the
records I want
of the Lisson Grove lingo.
I'm not going to waste
another cylinder on it.
Be off with you. I don't want you.
At the beginning of the play,
it explains that she comes
from Lisson Grove,
which is in north-west London.
And I'm from north-west London,
so I thought,
I've got that accent down.
That's just me.
A bit rougher.
Well, if my money's not good enough,
I can go elsewhere.
You were doing it totally in reverse
from the normal actress.
That's the way Eliza was written,
actually. Yeah.
But you have to learn how to unpick
the accent, don't you? Oh, yes. Yes.
Never mind going, "Yes, yes."
What did you do? Did you...
LAUGHTER
How did you learn how to talk posh?
It's hard. I'll bet. It's hard.
Is it? It nearly k*lled me.
Miss Doolittle? Here she is, Mother.
The whole show was predicated on
the fact of waiting for that moment.
Can she do it?
Can she speak with a posh accent?
POSH ACCENT: How do
you do, Mrs Higgins?
Mr Higgins told me I might come.
And, gloriously,
of course she could.
My aunt died of influenza,
so they said,
but it's my belief
they done the old woman in.
Done her in?
I mean, we had some great times
teaching her.
I was thrilled to be offered it
because, you know,
it's one of the great acting roles
for a woman, really - a young woman.
And the winner is... Tommy Tune.
CHEERING
Tommy became probably
one of the most successful
musical theatre directors
on Broadway.
In the back of my mind,
I always had this show
that I wanted to do with Twiggy,
and so I called her and I said,
"Could I talk you into coming to
New York and being in a musical?"
I said,
"Oh, when do we start filming?
And he said, "No, no, no, no, no.
It's going to be on Broadway."
And I said, "Oh, my God, I can't do
that!" And he said, "There's no such
"word as can't. Pack your bag
and get out to New York."
They just uprooted their life and
came to Broadway to make this show.
We were kind of like the same body.
She was a twig and I was a stick.
We were just bones on elastic.
It was how they were so opposite
and really interacted together
that fused their partnership.
We did a couple of numbers
that lasted ten minutes,
and that's a lot of dancing,
and she did it.
She learned it.
There is nothing like
going out on the stage
in front of a live audience,
singing Gershwin songs and dancing,
and you can feel their energy
coming back to you.
Obviously, there are...
You get amazing nights
where you feel
you're almost flying.
It's an extraordinary sensation.
As scared as I was about doing it,
once I'd got out there,
I mean, it becomes very addictive.
But I do remember the standing
ovation and the cheers
and I thought,
"I think we've done it."
While we were in the middle
of the run of My One And Only,
we had the exciting call
that they wanted Tommy and I
to perform at the Royal Variety
Performance that year.
It was so exciting,
and we did the water dance.
APPLAUSE
I think it was a little bit
like being...
..a bird let out of a cage,
because...
..I suddenly realised how wonderful
the experience was
and I forever, you know,
will thank Tommy Tune
for giving me that chance to do it.
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
I got nominated for a Tony Award,
which is the biggest award
you can get on Broadway,
so that's a big high.
What about your little girl? Is she
thrilled with what you're doing?
I think she thinks
all mums and dads do that.
You know, everyone sings and dances
and gets up on a stage and...
Cos, you know, she doesn't know
who I am or what I am
except, you know, I do what I do.
The days that I didn't have nursery,
I'd go in with her and I'd spend...
I used to spend lots of time
backstage and I was...
You know, all the dancers
were lovely.
And I used to collect all
the sequins on the floor
that fell off their costumes.
And I used to watch Mum
and Tommy rehearse,
and Tommy was so lovely
and was such a...
You know, he's been such
an important man in my life,
and I remember that time
very affectionately.
They had made this beautiful
little child,
and we all loved her.
Carly was just divine
and crazy as a loon.
She was so eccentric.
Do you remember you were obsessed
with Popeye?
I was. He was my first love.
And you used to ask me
for spinach every day.
You ate spinach. I used to walk
around with one eye closed,
and this is not...
TWIGGY LAUGHS
I'm not making this up.
You would only wear sailor suits.
And I wanted a pipe.
Obviously, a two-year-old can't...
A three-year-old can't have a pipe.
No. And so you used to wrap...
I used to get a plastic straw...
Yeah. ..and tie knots in one end
so it was like a bobble at the end,
and you used to walk around
with that in your mouth. Yeah.
There were months and months
and months where he didn't drink
and he was lovely
and everything was fine,
and then something would happen,
so he'd drown his sorrows.
As time went on...
..those times of drinking,
you know, got closer together.
It's a terrible, terrible illness.
You try everything to try
and help them to get help,
you know, but it's very,
very, very complicated.
I couldn't cope with...
..trying to do this massive show
on Broadway and rehearsals...
I mean, often we'd rehearse
till midnight at night,
like you do.
To come home and then have
to deal with that problem,
I couldn't cope with it, and, erm...
So it kind of ended
that relationship, really.
And I don't doubt that he loved me
and I know he adored Carly.
The drink...
..made him throw all that away.
And it's really sad, really.
AMBULANCE SIREN
He died...
..the day before my fifth birthday.
He had a massive heart attack and I
was alone with him in a restaurant.
It was quite a kind of, you know,
violent way to lose him.
I think it... You know,
it's had an effect on me.
But the way my mum, you know,
protected me from...
You know, there were photographers
trying to take photos of me
and asking me how I felt
about my father dying
when I was five years old,
and I think, you know,
she kept me away from all of that.
You know, obviously, losing your dad
was very traumatic,
but mainly because of you.
And mainly cos I was with him
when it happened. Yeah.
And I was so concerned that
you had to experience that
that I probably became
overprotective. I don't know.
He did go to AA and stop
drinking, he did stop,
but I'm afraid the damage
was done and...
And he was only 52.
It was terrible.
And although we were living apart,
you know, obviously,
when you've loved somebody,
you don't...
That doesn't really stop.
You know, the greatest thing
that he gave me was Carly,
and, you know, I'll always
hold that close to my heart.
And of course your life appeared to
be going along on a very even train
and then you had
a personal tragedy... Yeah.
If I may ask how you managed
to bounce back from that?
I think you do. You have to.
I was, erm... I had to for Carly.
I've got a little girl
who's six-and-a-half.
She's with us this evening, but not
in the audience, isn't that right?
And... So I had to for her.
I couldn't collapse as well.
So, suddenly, when you've got a
child and you're the breadwinner,
you kick into another gear, I think.
APPLAUSE
It's a whole new you.
Just everything going
and the hips moving.
Look at you - a real trampette.
It's wonderful.
LAUGHTER
Even the chastity belt is back.
That's not the Twiggy I knew.
The first time I met you,
it was like little Twiggy.
But I am very grown up now.
I'm 36 years old.
I got cast in a film
called Club Paradise.
I was very excited because the star
of this new film was Robin Williams,
who was a major,
major Hollywood star.
We had three months in Jamaica
doing this film.
Carly came out.
And Robin, we laughed a lot.
I can remember saying to him, "I'm
not going to look at you today,"
because once you get the giggles,
it's awful, isn't it?
TWIGGY LAUGHS
And I came back here
after the filming
and it was the summer.
I had been asked out on dates.
I was very, very, very cautious.
And mainly because of Carly.
Because I didn't...
You know, I wanted...
If I met somebody, and I wanted
to meet somebody, but I wanted...
It needed to be right for her
as well as for me.
So we invited Twiggs to dinner.
Robert Powell ringing up
my friend Mike King
and saying, "Richard Johnson and
his wife have just had a huge row
"and so they can't join us for
dinner at La Famiglia restaurant
"in World's End in London.
"Would you come to dinner?"
So I turn up at La Famiglia
and there's this gorgeous creature
sitting there at the table.
And me, Babs and Mike...
..spent the evening as gooseberries.
It was extraordinary.
I fell madly in love, obviously,
like you do in a new relationship,
and he... I mean, he was gorgeous.
Physically gorgeous, but he was
also a really sweet, lovely man.
Very kind of old-fashioned
in lots of ways.
When you've been through
a broken relationship or marriage,
you're very, very tentative
about entering into another one.
Am I going down the same road?
And, how could that love have died?
And ours didn't.
It lasted for 38 years,
up to this present moment. Yes.
So unless things go awful tonight...
TWIGGY LAUGHS
..we're locked in for another 38.
When Leigh and I did get together
and get married,
you know, I've got my daughter
and he's got a son,
so we became a new family,
so it's making all that work.
It's always very complicated and
people do it in very different ways,
but that worked for us.
I felt incredibly fortunate to
be able to call Carly my sister
and, Twiggy, as loving as I could
have wished for in a step-mum.
Here is the queen.
Come into our humble abode.
We were all met with garlands.
They put garlands around our necks
when we arrived.
How's the water? Warm?
Well, they probably have it heated.
Leigh was a very successful
stage and screen actor
when I first met him,
and he has done brilliant things
in his acting and, later on,
directing career.
But we made a pact that if we
were going to be together,
if one of us got a really good gig,
the other one would come.
Like, if I got it, he'd come
with me, and vice-versa.
Happy birthday!
So we weren't separated,
let's put it that way,
because I think separation
in our business
is very, very difficult,
and has proved to be
for many, many couples.
Excuse me, are you recording?
Yes. You know...
Say, "Turn over, action."
Turn over, action!
Oh, darling, we have smoked salmon.
What shall we put it on?
Soulmates, I think, is a very
good description for these two.
They do not like to be apart.
I've always said this -
my family life has always taken
precedence over work,
be it rightly or wrongly.
I think the thing
that first jumps out
is the love that they have
for each other.
And, coming from a broken home
and being around that kind
of unconditional love,
was just hypnotic and magical.
He's also a brilliant writer
and I love his wonderful poetry,
but, really, I just love him.
Finding each other in the world
of entertainment when you have
a level of fame is probably not
the easiest thing in the world,
so I think there was
a real normality
that my parents had
with her and Leigh.
Shortly after I met Leigh,
we were going down to visit
Paul and Linda McCartney
and the kids in their place
in the country,
and had a lovely evening.
And then, in the morning, we got
up and we came down for breakfast
and Paul was cooking us a very
delicious vegetarian breakfast,
and then he sat down
and he picked up a guitar.
Of course, he has a guitar
in every room.
And he said,
"Remember this one, Leigh?"
MUSIC: Blackbird
by The Beatles
Blackbird singing
in the dead of night
Take these broken wings
and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this
moment to be free
You were only
waiting for this moment to be free
You were only waiting
for this moment to be free.
Leigh said he'll never forget it.
It was quite wonderful.
I think that the thing
about Twiggy's humour,
which is actually
a little similar to my own,
is that she's self-deprecating.
..about this whole event.
You love the Duke, right?
Who wouldn't?
He's solid and dependable.
And, best of all, his mother's dead.
LAUGHTER
Enough said.
And she just has a kind of energy
that lends itself to comedy.
You know, cos there's this thing
that models are thick and stupid
and all they can do is, you know...
Which isn't... There may be some.
Yeah.
LAUGHTER
But I know thick
and stupid people... No!
..in other walks of life.
That's true.
LAUGHTER
Right?
It's true.
APPLAUSE
It's hard going into a show
which is already established.
And you're coming in
probably as yourself.
Usually a slightly heightened
version of yourself.
Botox? No, Parralox.
Well, it does exactly
what it says on the tin.
But it was divine having Twiggs on.
A change of tack here, a change of
image. You know, radical g*y pride.
Fists across America, darling.
Because you are a g*y icon.
Oh, am I?
Damon! Damon! Coming! Twiggy.
I got a call from Italian Vogue
and Steven Meisel, who is, I think,
one of the great photographers,
wanted to do a ten-page spread
for Italian Vogue,
a modelling spread,
which was, you know,
almost too much to turn down.
MUSIC: Connection
by Elastica
But I think it's a bit like
riding a bike, quite honestly.
I just fell into the old habits,
I suppose.
My first impressions of Kate
before I met her
was how gorgeous she was,
and she kind of reminded me of me
when I was very young.
And we're kind of, for models,
we're very similar body shape.
And, actually, when I was a judge
on America's Next Top Model,
sometimes girls would come on
and if they happened to be small,
you know, one of the judges
would say,
"Probably won't work
because you're too small."
So I'd kind of put up my hand
and say,
"Excuse me, I didn't do too badly
and Kate Moss didn't do too badly."
Connection is made...
I did the range for M&S for
a few years, which I loved doing.
When I joined Marks & Spencer,
it was in a pretty shabby state.
Customers had pretty much fallen
out of love with the fashion.
Twiggy was recognised by
the more mature audience.
She reminded the customers
of their youth -
of a time when anything
seemed possible.
And every time I wore something
in the commercials,
they would tell me that
it would sell very well,
so I said, "Well, let me do
a range," and I loved that.
I think we did some
really nice clothes.
I remember Stuart Rose and I driving
back from a city presentation,
there was an Evening Standard
news vendor,
and the headline just said simply,
"Twiggy saves M&S".
And that just says it all.
What comes next, Twiggy?
Through lovely Barbara Hulanicki,
she mentioned me to her friend
Mindy Grossman,
who was running HSN, which is
a huge shopping channel in America.
I had lunch with Twiggy
and her husband Leigh
and, by the end of lunch,
I literally looked at her
and I said, "OK, we need
to launch Twiggy London."
Her ability to connect with women -
all women - was so powerful.
The irony for me is that Twiggy
represented youth
and now she represents
another stage in her life.
The designing part of my career
has been very important to me,
and I've done many collections
over the years
and will continue to do so.
Super relaxed. Just a demo. OK.
It's going to be... Relax, relax!
Before The Rain.
Right, here we go, let's go for it.
She loves to work.
She loves to be in the studio
recording an album and singing.
Wakes up happy.
I remember sunshine in your eyes
But now I just see something
That I don't recognise
There's no running from...
I think the fact that Twiggy
is still,
after so many decades
of doing photography
and acting and now music,
the fact that she's still working
away at being in that world
is a real credit to her
because it takes a lot
to want to be in that world
for such a long time.
Do you remember who we were
before the rain?
I'm still very fortunate
that I, you know,
I get to do things which I love.
I wouldn't like to be
sitting at home retired.
That wouldn't suit me at all.
We both know that it's more
Than just the weather
that's to blame
What a shame...
Gorgeous.
I think Twiggy's career
has evolved as she has.
Charlotte, darling.
Twiggy here.
She brings a different notion
of what beauty can mean,
and it doesn't stop at 21.
SHE CHUCKLES
It keeps on going.
I was so flattered when
the lovely Charlotte Tilbury
asked me to be in... Well, I've
done two campaigns for her now,
along with some other gorgeous,
lovely girlies.
When Twiggy, at her age,
gets such an incredible
ambassadorship,
that changes the game.
I always say if you can see it,
you can be it.
They say that you stay the age
that you became successful.
She hasn't.
She's grown old beautifully
and she's done so many other things.
But I'm always going to
remember that image -
the first real supermodel
that you could relate to.
I think that people like Twiggy
remind women
that they can be themselves
and be beautiful,
and how complex
and different beauty can be.
For each person on this planet
to look different
is a beautiful and wondrous thing,
whether that be about the way
you look, the way you dress.
Your power is your individuality.
She embraces every sort of era
of her life,
and I've learned that from her.
She still has the energy
and curiosity
and ability to throw herself into
so many different things at once.
But I think that's part of
the reason for her longevity.
You can't really go too far or
in too many different directions
without seeing her image.
When you see postcards,
Audrey Hepburn,
Marilyn Monroe is always there.
Some people explode
out of their time.
How do we ever know
what that magic is?
She had it.
She epitomises an era
that will never go away.
It will be treasured by us.
And I think she is a treasure.
She is someone that I think
that people will always think of
as an icon - a true British icon.
She's a Dame. And now I'm a Dame.
I remember the day that I opened
the letter...
Oh, I've dropped it.
I've dropped my star.
..because I had absolutely
no warning.
I remember sitting down and I kept
saying, "Oh, my God! Oh, my God!"
And Leigh kept saying, "What's
the matter? What's the matter?"
I said, "No, no, no.
It's good, it's good."
He said, "Congratulations.
About time you got this.
"We're all thrilled for you."
So that was nice.
She's just... She's who she is.
The success never altered her
in any way.
I do believe she could wake up
tomorrow and that would be it,
she'd say, "All right." You know?
She'd just get back to living.
She's exceptional in that way,
I think.
Being married to the lady
that I'm married to
has enriched my life enormously.
THEY LAUGH
Right, so, into the camera...
..erm, what do you think
your legacy will be?
TWIGGY CHUCKLES
Erm, I think her legacy is...
..you know, women are awesome
cos they are.
Oh, God.
I just... Without... I don't want
it to sound, like, sappy,
but I do love you, Mum,
with all my heart.
MUSIC: Be My Baby
by The Ronettes
People say Twiggy looks like a boy.
She doesn't. She's just adorable.
Twig. Yeah?
We've seen...
Really, we've seen lots and lots
of very good photographs of you.
We've never seen you move.
Would you dance for us? All right.
So won't you say you love me?
I'll make you so proud of me
We'll make them turn their heads
Every place we go
So won't you please
Be my, be my baby
Be my little baby
My one and only baby
Say you'll be my darling
Be my, be my baby
Be my baby now
My one and only baby
I'll make you happy, baby
Just wait and see
For every kiss you give me
I'll give you three
Oh, since the day I saw you
I have been waiting for you
You know I will adore you
Till eternity
So won't you please...
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Twiggy (2024)
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