(Lauren Bacall, Charlotte Rampling, or just TOO FAT TO BE A MODEL? Read part 3 here!)
MY YOUNGER SISTER TO THE RESCUE
In July my younger sister Lisa flew to San Francisco to spend the summer with me. Lisa’s flight was scheduled to land quite late at night, so Nessy offered to drive me to the airport to pick her up after the evening modelling class.
Well, my rude, naughty little sister nearly fell over laughing when she saw me! She said I looked like Barbie in my white dress and white high heels, my hair all teased and poufy, and a full-face of makeup. Frankly, I still believe her judgment was clouded; she’d flown over sitting next to a musician who’d just performed at the Montreux Jazz festival with David Sanborn and had shared what he’d called his “magic cookies”. Clearly, she was hallucinating because I looked absolutely fabulous.
My sister and I had the best time together that summer. When Top Gun came out, we went to see it two nights running, which is where Lisa developed her lifelong obsession with Tom Cruise. Me? I just wanted the same hairstyle as Kelly McGillis, which was clearly meant to be when the following morning we spotted an advertisement in the San Francisco Chronicle for 50% off perms at Macys hair salon in Union Square. There was no time to waste; we immediately rushed over to the salon and booked me in.
(Kelly McGillis hair!)
Well, it was the best perm ever! I walked out with big, bouncy curls and felt ever so glamorous. However, it did go a little wild and woolly when Lisa and I drove down to Big Sur with Shandy a couple of days later. I initially found this a little disconcerting, but all our lovely hippy friends thought it looked mega groovy, and besides, after a couple of margaritas and magic cigarettes my wild and woolly hair totally matched my attitude to life, so I just let it do its thing.
Meanwhile, life with Blaze was becoming more and more complicated. Soon after I moved into Nessy’s flat, Blaze’s friend from Geneva – the one with whom I’d had fallen for while in Geneva – flew over to visit. I don’t know whether he came over to see me or Blaze, but whichever it was, he certainly wasn’t put off by my Barbie/Kelly McGillis makeover. Bien au contraire: our chemistry was off the charts, and before we knew it one thing led to another all over again, landing us in tumultuous soap-opera style territory.
My sister was still around, too, merrily causing heart-havoc of her own. Brandon, the son of one of Shandy’s neighbours, thought she was the most gorgeous thing he’d ever laid eyes on in all his 17 years. One day, Lisa, Brandon and I went to a big garage sale with Shandy to pick up some cheap kitchen utensils. We came across someone selling puppies out of a big cardboard box. It was terribly hot, and there was no shade at all. My sister turned to Brandon and said, “You must take one of these poor little puppies! Please! At least take one!” Unable to resist her big, beautiful, imploring blue eyes, Brandon did as he was told and returned home with a mixed-breed female puppy. We never found out how his parents reacted, but at least he convinced them to let him keep it. I wonder if he called it Lisa…
As August came to an end and my sister’s flight back to Geneva approached, it became obvious to me that my relationship with Blaze was over. Also, I no longer wanted to live on the edge of poverty; I wanted to go home. Blaze and I gave up Norma’s flat, and moved our few belongings back to Shandy’s house with the help of one of her friends who had a pick-up truck. There was no room for Lisa and I in the cockpit, so we travelled sprawled out in the back of the truck on our grotty old mattress, concealed beneath a huge, silver-white faux-fur bedcover I’d picked up at a flea-market somewhere. Thank goodness the police didn’t pull us over!
Soon, Lisa and I flew back to Switzerland together. My amazing parents somehow managed to get hold of an apartment for me in the same building as where I’d lived previously, and it was wonderful to have a clean, properly furnished, comfortable place of my own again.
I ended my relationship with Blaze by letter, which wasn’t the most courageous or elegant way of going about it, but I still felt oddly vulnerable to him, and didn’t want to risk hearing his voice and being talked back into the same old drama. He continued to write to me for a while, and to write gooey songs which I tried hard not to listen to. I stayed away from his sexy friend with whom I’d had crazy chemistry, and steered clear of the whole Geneva underground music scene.
As it turned out, my friend Victoria needed a place to stay, so she moved in with me! My new apartment had two good sized rooms as well as a big kitchen, so she took one room and I took the other. We put a TV and a big sofa-bed in the kitchen and went back to watching our beloved Goldie Hawn movies, and doobie-dooing, and having a grand old time. A few months later Victoria met François, the love of her life, a doctor who worked for the World Health Organization and soon moved in with him.
Within days of returning to Geneva I’d gone back to the law firm to see if they’d hire me for the third time, and once again I fell on my feet. They put me to work for the same group of young interns, and I continued to arrive late, leave early, and often call in sick on Mondays. Cedric (the gorgeous young intern with the lovely, kind, grounded energy) and I resumed our slinky, sideways glances, but he was still with his girlfriend, and I didn’t hang around, waiting for him to sort himself out. Once again, I’d brought sexy back from America, and over the next few months went out with a couple of lovely guys.
In March 1987, the law firm held a weekend ski outing for its employees, and the sideways glances between Cedric and I dissolved into a steamy slow dance at an alpine disco on the Saturday night. I was head over heels with him, and turned into a complete airhead, incapable of typing a single sentence without making a million mistakes.
Soon afterwards, early one morning, my doorbell rang. I peeked through the peep hole and nearly had a heart attack. It was Cedric! I told him to hang on a second, and quickly went to brush my teeth! When I opened the door, I saw he held a bag of croissants, and a small bag of clothes containing the bare necessities; he’d had a row with his girlfriend, and their relationship was over.
I nearly fainted with happiness!
That day, I don’t think I was late for work, but I doubt I got anything done. I probably just sat at my desk with a racing heart and a goofy grin on my face!
We tried to hide our romance at the office, but it was hopeless. I spoke with the person in charge of HR, who kindly found me a job working for a lawyer in a different building, but even that felt weird, because Cedric and I kept running into each other, and I couldn’t keep my hands off him, so I eventually found a job somewhere else.
Cedric and I were married two years later, on March 31, 1989. He left the firm soon after passing the Geneva bar exam, when he was head-hunted to work for the legal department of an international luxury goods group. We have two grown up children, Olivia, a fashion photographer, and Greg, a film maker.
As for Victoria, she married François, the doctor at WHO, the day after our wedding! They’re still married, live in Ibiza, and have a gorgeous son, Emile, who is a photographer.
I am grateful to all the wonderful people who were there for me during those turbulent few years. Shandy is one of the kindest, most generous people I’ve ever met, and although she always said I helped her get through her own rough patch, I’ll never forget everything she did for me. And while I know my parents certainly didn’t approve of my choices, they just waited for me to gather my neurones again and helped me put my life back together.
I’m proud of having been brave enough to step so far out of my comfort zone; I experienced an awful lot in a short time, although I’m aware it must have felt never-ending to my poor parents! However, I’ve also always been a bit of a chicken, so I always stepped back when things got a little too mad. A part of me will always be a little bit of a rock chick. I went rogue, and brought sexy back, and then I tucked it into bed with someone truly wonderful.
Thank you for sharing this real life wonder tale! And I realize now that I was in San Francisco at the same time you were! I was at law school at the University of San Francisco from 1985 to 1988. Chris and I lived in Berkeley and he went to school there, and I commuted across the Bay bridge to class every day. From 1984 to 1985 Chris and I lived in Pacific Heights and a great apartment over some nice Republicans’ garage.
I also wrote for the tenderloin times, the newspaper for your former neighborhood! I know that it was a tough area, but I met some really great people there when I was interviewing them. Left a big part of my heart in San Francisco.
It has been great to know so much more about you than I never knew when we became friends. Lots of history behind that time and still ahead.🤗 also nice to hear about how you met Cedric. Give him a big hello from me.
“Merrily causing heart-havoc” Love it!!