Edie Sedgwick (Little Miss S)

Edie Sedgwick was Andy Warhol’s muse, a socialite, an heiress and the ‘It’ girl of the sixties.

Born Edith Minturn Sedgwick on April 20, 1943 in Santa Barbara, California. She was born into a well established and wealthy family. Her great-great-great grandfather was Judge Theodore Sedgwick. He was the first to win a case for freedom for Elizabeth Freeman under the Massachusetts Bill of Rights that declared all men to be born free and equal.

Sedgwick's mother was the daughter of Henry Wheeler de Forest the President of the Southern Pacific Railroad.

In January 1965, Edie met Andy Warhol for the first time at Lester Persky's apartment. After that night, Edie and Andy began to make a string of art films together at The Factory.

Edie began taking drugs. Her drug of choice…..a “poke” of speed. What started out as a bit of fun, turned into drug abuse.

In 1966 Edie Sedgwick left The Factory.

In July 1971, Edie married Michael Post. She also began to get her life back on track. She stopped taking drugs and drinking. In October of the same year, Edie was prescribed pain killers to treat a physical illness.

From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edie_Sedgwick):On the night of November 15, 1971, Sedgwick went to a fashion show at the Santa Barbara Museum, a segment of which was filmed for the television show An American Family. After the fashion show, she attended a party, and was supposedly attacked by a drunken guest who called her a heroin addict. Sedgwick phoned Post, who arrived at the party and, seeing that she was disturbed by the accusations, took her back to their apartment at around one in the morning. On the way home, Sedgwick expressed thoughts about the uncertainty of their marriage. Before they both fell asleep, Post gave Edie the medication that had been prescribed for her. According to Post, Sedgwick started to fall asleep very quickly, and her breathing was "bad - it sounded like there was a big hole in her lungs." but he attributed that to Edie's heavy smoking habit and went to sleep. When Post awoke the following morning, Edie was dead. The coroner ruled Sedgwick's death as "undetermined/accident/suicide". The time of death was estimated at 9:20 A.M. The death certificate claims the immediate cause was "probable acute barbiturate intoxication" due to ethanol intoxication. Sedgwick's alcohol level was registered at 0.17% and her barbiturate level was 0.48mg%. She was 28. Sedgwick was buried in the small Oak Hill Cemetery in Ballard, California in a simple grave. Her headstone read "Edith Sedgwick Post - Wife Of Michael Brett Post 1943-1971". The family attended her memorial service.