From victim to persecutor: the sad story of a failed singer (12 photos)

If you stick to an ordinary cat that purrs, pulls tail, hissing and rearing wool, then with a high probability it scratch or bite.







The beauty in the photo is Nell Theobald, a native of Atlanta, born in 1944. The girl passionately dreamed of a career opera singer. And in pursuit of a dream, she went to New York, barely after graduating from school.

Despite her great desire, Nell had talent not enough. And she, contrary to her dreams, did not shine on stage, but performed quite prosaic work - she worked as a model, waitress, dancer. Earned well, but in such a rhythm did not remain at all free time.

In the spring of 1966, Theobald came to the next shooting in New York Auto Show. The girl's partner on the site was supposed to be real lion.

Ludwig is a circus performer. And at first he behaved impeccably. The model took it normally, let him in, gave him a stroke. Not to lose precious shots, the photographers snapped their shutters together.

Apparently, the beast was blinded by flashes. Ludwig got scared and furiously sank his teeth into Nell's leg. And then went through the body clawed paw. The trainer dragged the king of beasts into the cage with difficulty. A The girl was rushed to the hospital. The wounds did not pose a threat to life, but the doctors were inclined to amputate the leg: the limb.

The sobbing girl begged them to leave their leg: she was still too young and did not want to live a life of a cripple. The doctors decided take a chance. The leg was saved, but the ugly scars remained. Accordingly, about public work like a dancer could be forgotten forever.

Nell sued the organizers of the shooting, assessing the damage at 3 million dollars. As a result, the former model and the car dealer agreed on 250 thousand, which equivalent to about 2.2 million at the current exchange rate.



Birgit Nilsson

With such money, the concern for daily bread ceased to be necessity. Nell completely immersed herself in her old passion - opera, began to attend all the premieres and quickly joined the crowd of amateurs operas in Europe and the USA.

At the 1968 festival in Bayreuth, she met the famous Swedish opera diva Birgit Nilsson, who is considered one of the brightest stars of the last century.



It's hard to say exactly what clicked in Nell's head after that. acquaintance. Perhaps she was overwhelmed by the possibility of live communication with legend. I saw in Birgit an unrealized self or experienced romantic attraction. But from that moment she turned into a shadow singer and became obsessed with her.

Nell came to all performances, anywhere in the world, sent huge bouquets of blood-red roses to the idol, filled up Nilsson letters. Tu at first was amused by the perseverance of a fan, and then she became too stubborn, and Birgit had already begun to fear for her life and forbade anyone to approach her.



However, this did not stop the obsessed, but only spurred on and provoked. Nell bribed maids in the hotels where she stayed singer, broke in and stole perfume, lingerie and other personal items, passing them off as gifts. Managed to sneak into the delivery Nobel Prize, where the singer was invited.

She blew loudly at all the crossroads that Birgit their love and insane passion. Although in relationships with women never was not noticed and met exclusively with guys. And Nilsson is She has lived her entire life with only one husband.



Now we meet cases of persecution of idols more often. And then such behavior was rare and therefore looked more more intimidating. The supposedly reciprocal love messages became the height of madness: the fan learned to forge the idol's handwriting, scribbled answers in a stream and bragged about them to friends and acquaintances.



The finale was a prosaic reason - lack of money. Yes, the compensation from the car dealer was solid. But money has a property end. Costs for outfits, jewelry, travel, tickets, hotels were considerable, and as a result, in 9 years the amount dried up. Other sources of income Nell wasn't.



In 1977, she scraped together a ticket and flew to Vienna, where Nilsson spoke. There was enough money for a room, but to pay maids and there was nothing to buy a ticket to the opera. And at the very time when the diva shone on the stage of the State Opera, her passionate admirer mixed the lion's dose in the room (symbolic and sad comparison) sleeping pills and tranquilizers and took this cocktail.






Nilsson in old age



Image of the singer on the 500 SEK banknote

She was rescued. But upon returning home, she took another attempt - this time successful and passed away in a cheap room New York hotel, forever asleep in a pile of fake letters. Such as false as, in fact, was the life of the unfortunate Nell. It's clear, that she suffered and lost the chance of fulfilling her dream. But thanks with a solid payment, one could live life much brighter, more interesting, benefiting and enjoying. And not become a crazy shadow of another man, poisoning his life.

Predictably and expectedly, the request to scatter her ashes in the garden of the adored singer's house remained unanswered.