The Suicide of Actress/Model Margaux Hemingway: 18 Years Later

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It's been nearly thirty years since the suicide of Margaux Hemingway, the former supermodel and granddaughter of American literary giant Ernest Hemingway. She died of a drug overdose, at only 46 years old, and this is her story.

A Closer Look

Margaux Hemingway was born on February 16, 1955, in Portland, Oregon, the second of the three daughters of John Hadley and Byra Whitlock Hemingway. She changed her name from "Margot" upon learning her parents drank Chateau Margaux on the night of her conception.

The family spent several years on Ernest Hemingway's farm in Cuba, and later relocated to San Francisco, where Margaux's father was a stockbroker. In 1967, the family moved once more to mountainous Ketchum, Idaho, where Ernest Hemingway had committed suicide six years earlier.

"In Printed" by Fame

Margaux Hemingway, who liked to party, had suffered from alcohol abuse and several other physical and psychological disorders before the tender age of 20. Those included depression, bulimia, and epilepsy.

Hemingway made an indelible mark in the fashion world, becoming one of the era’s most recognized faces and attaining supermodel level. Her image was seen on the covers of renowned magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue, and Time, securing her heralded position in the fashion wordl.

Then Came Hollywood

In 1976, Margaux Hemingway made her big screen debut opposite her younger sister Mariel, playing a fashion model/vengeful rape victim in the thriller Lipstick (1976).

The statuesque beauty subsequently appeared in other movies like Killer Fish (1979), A Fistful of Chopsticks/They Call Me Bruce (1982), Over the Brooklyn Bridge (1983) and Inner Sanctum (1991).

Then Came Tragedy

On July 1, 1996, the severely decomposed body of Margaux Hemingway, once described by New York fashion artist Joe Eula as the "face of a generation," was discovered by friends in her home in Santa Monica, California.

Hemingway's two marriages, first to Wetanson (m. 1975-1978), then to Bernardo Faucher (1979-1985), a French-born film maker, ended in divorce.

Lasting Impression

Like too many other creative souls before, during, and after her lifetime, Margaux Hemingway found that all that glitters is not necessarily gold.

In the end, she and her charismatic talent and persona left this world all too soon.