The Tragic Story of Margaux Hemingway: Supermodel and Granddaughter of an American Literary Icon (7 Photos)

Margaux Hemingway was the granddaughter of writer Ernest Hemingway, a 1970s supermodel, and the first model in history to sign a million-dollar contract. Her photos graced the covers of *Vogue* and *Time*; she was invited to parties by Andy Warhol, acted in films, and partied at Studio 54. She took her own life at the age of 42.





Margaux Hemingway (born Margot, but later spelling it Margaux—after the wine her parents drank on the night of her conception) was born in Oregon in 1954. Her family later moved to Cuba, then to San Francisco, and finally to Idaho—to the famous Hemingway ranch in the very provincial town of Ketchum.



"I was a bit of a little hellion in cowboy boots, with a grin that stretched from ear to ear," Margaux recalled in an interview.

After finishing school, she worked at a small PR firm and once talked her way into accompanying her father on a business trip to New York. There, at the Plaza Hotel, she met Errol Wetson—an entrepreneur and heir to a diner chain.

"He noticed me while I was having tea in the lobby, and later knocked on my hotel room door holding a rose and a bottle of champagne." That’s how I fell in love.”

It was 1974.





Just four months later, 19-year-old Margaux moved to New York, stayed with Wetson, and began a modeling career. Wetson quickly introduced her to his social circle and to the stars of the era—artist Andy Warhol, singer and actress Liza Minnelli, style icon and Warhol muse Bianca Jagger, and designer Roy Halston.

These encounters made the young small-town girl’s head spin; she decided the best way to boost her confidence and add a touch of glamour was through alcohol and marijuana. She felt that alcohol, in particular, would give her strength and courage. And Margaux certainly needed that strength and self-assurance: the tall, striking young woman with the famous name was rapidly becoming more famous than her grandfather—at least in certain circles.



Margaux Hemingway in 1984

Margaux became the first person in the history of the modeling industry to land a one-million-dollar contract—an unheard-of, astronomical sum—as the face of Fabergé’s "Babe" perfume. Her photographs graced the covers of *Cosmopolitan*, *Elle*, *Vogue*, and even *Time* magazine. Margaux was a global celebrity, the "new beauty," and the "new New York supermodel."

According to her friends, Margaux spent her entire life trying to live up to her famous name. By the mid-1970s, she decided to try her hand at acting. Her debut film, *Lipstick* (1976), not only failed to bring her success but also thrust another young woman named Hemingway into the spotlight.

The role of the protagonist's younger sister was played by Margaux's own younger sister, Mariel; critics were delighted by Mariel's acting abilities—something that could not be said for Margaux's own talent.



Wedding to Errol Wetson, 1975

Margaux and Wetson married in 1975 but divorced by 1978. Wetson, Margaux complained, lacked business acumen; the extent of his contribution was offering his young wife advice on her wardrobe.

Margaux’s film career, like her marriage, fell apart almost as soon as it began (she would go on to appear in a few more films, but none brought her success or garnered significant popularity with audiences or critics; paradoxically, the highest-rated project involving her was her sister’s documentary *Running from Crazy*, which focused on the Hemingway family "curse").

In 1979, Mariel played Woody Allen’s young love interest in *Manhattan* and achieved even greater fame. True to Grandpa Ernest’s philosophy, Margot acted as though none of this bothered her in the least; she continued drinking and using drugs—and in 1979, she impulsively married Venezuelan director Bernard Foucher, subsequently moving with him to Paris.

That "moveable feast" proved equally short-lived. In 1984, while at a ski resort in Austria, Margot crashed into a boulder and was seriously injured. Her recovery took nine months, during which time she gained 34 kilograms and sank into a depression. Margot and Bernard divorced in 1985. Upon returning to the U.S., Margot attempted to revive her acting career, but her new films brought neither money nor fame.



In 1987, she checked into a rehabilitation facility for a month. After leaving the clinic and once again unable to find decent, well-paid work—and owing the government around $900,000 in back taxes—Margaux posed nude for *Playboy* in May 1990.

Margaux’s final years were a rollercoaster of highs and lows. At times, the longtime yoga and meditation enthusiast would achieve a state of enlightenment and travel to India on a pilgrimage to holy sites; at other times, following another bout of depression, friends reportedly had to bail her out of jail there.

In 1994, she gave an interview to *People* magazine in which she stated that she had "never been able to stand [her] mother"; a few years later, she publicly accused her godfather of abuse. In response, her father, Jack Hemingway, and stepmother, Angela, declared that Margaux was "lying all the time" and that it was "time for her to grow up and take responsibility for her own life," and they cut off all contact with her.

In her memoirs, Margaux’s sister—the actress Mariel Hemingway—claims that both their parents were alcoholics and that the family environment was toxic, filled with constant arguments, shouting matches, and the throwing of dishes. As an adult, Mariel was diagnosed with depression, a condition that had likely taken root during her childhood.

"I grew up and suddenly realized that throwing plates and screaming at each other wasn't normal," the actress recalls.

Later, she wrote two versions of her book: one for adults and another for teenagers, to help them recognize depression at an early stage and successfully overcome it.



Mariel and Margaux at a Christian Dior fashion show in 1981

Margaux also suffered from depression from childhood, in addition to alcoholism, bulimia, and other disorders. She had dyslexia and epilepsy. In July 1996, a concerned friend found Margaux dead in her Santa Monica apartment. The cause of death was cited as an overdose of phenobarbital, an epilepsy medication. Her death was officially ruled a suicide, although some have questioned this conclusion.