Edie Sedgwick: California Girl

Edie Sedgwick was a legendary socialite, heiress, model and actress born in Santa Barbara, California.

Sedgwick was known as 1965's 'It Girl', 'The Girl of the Year', and Vogue magazine's 'Youthquaker'.

Edie Sedgwick was the native Southern California girl who ruled the Big Apple with iconic artist Andy Warhol and became a 1960s pop culture icon.

Edie, born Edith Minturn Sedgwick, was from a famous, wealthy and well-connected family. 

Her forefather, William Ellery, signed the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and Edie was the cousin of today's award-winning Hollywood actress Kyra Sedgwick.

Despite her family's financial fortune and high social status, Edie led a troubled life.  She developed anorexia during teenage and battled with Bulimia and mental illness for the rest of her life.

Sedgwick was raised on her family's California ranches, where she was home-schooled by nannies.

At age 13, Edie started boarding school near San Francisco but was soon taken out because of her anorexia, which had her down to 89 pounds.

After Edie's family admitted her to a New York rehab facility, she met legendary artist and filmmaker Andy Warhol in 1965.

She became a regular at Warhol's New York studio The Factory before he put Sedgwick in his movies, Vinyl and Horse. 

Sedgwick's cameo appearances in the two films garnered so much interest that Warhol decided to create starring roles for Edie.

Warhol took Sedgwick to the opening of his exhibit in Paris, France.  After returning to New York, Warhol gave Sedgwick a starring role in the films, Kitchen and Beauty No. 2.

As Sedgwick's popularity exploded, the paparazzi followed the new star and her unusual California-style fashions. When Andy Warhol dubbed Edie Sedgwick his "Superstar", the pair were constantly photographed everywhere.

Edie Sedgwick and Andy Warhol made more films together, like Outer and Inner Space, Prison, Lupe, and Afternoon.  Warhol declared that the only time he was ever truly in love was with Edie.

After a falling-out with Warhol, Sedgwick became close to music legend Bob Dylan, whose child she aborted --- according to her brother.

In 1967, Sedgwick began shooting the movie, Ciao! Manhattan.  After initial film footage was shot in New York, Sedgwick's deteriorating physical and mental health landed her back home in California for treatment.

In 1969, after being arrested on drug charges, Edie Sedgwick was hospitalized in a Santa Barbara psychiatric ward where she met fellow patient Michael Post, whom she married in July 1971.

On November 15, 1971, Sedgwick attended a Santa Barbara Museum fashion show, then a party afterward.  The next morning, Edie Sedgwick was found dead of a prescription drug overdose.  She was only 28 years old.

As a kid who lived only 20 minutes down the 101 freeway from Sedgwick in 1971, I remember our local community's reaction. 

It was a sad day.  Such a waste of native California beauty, talent and youth. 

Sedgwick is buried next to her mom in Santa Barbara County's Santa Ynez Valley near Neverland Ranch.

Edie Sedgwick impacted American pop culture to the point that she is a mythic California legend today.

Warren Beatty purchased the rights to Edie's life story in the '80s, and Sedgwick was portrayed by Jennifer Rubin in the 1991 film The Doors, and by Sienna Miller in the 2006 film Factory Girl.

Edie Sedgwick