More On Vivien Neves
Cowboy
DAILY MAIL (London)
January 11, 2003
TRAGIC BEAUTY;
She shocked the nation when, in this iconic picture, she became the
first woman to pose naked in The Times. But the glamorous life Vivien
Neves seemed destined for ended when she was struck by MS at 30. Here,
for the first time since her death at Christmas, her sister opens her
heart
Angela Levin
AS THE voice of Eric Clapton launched into a celebrated love song,
with the words 'you are so beautiful', Amanda Neves broke down and
cried. The funeral of her beloved sister, Vivien, which took place on
Thursday at Downs Crematorium on the South Coast, was one of the most
difficult days of her life. For she had worshipped her older sister
for as long as she could remember.
Who could blame her? Vivien, a stunning beauty, was one of the first
women to pose nude in a British tabloid when The Sun launched its Page
Three glamour pictures in 1970. A year later she became the first
woman to appear naked in a broadsheet newspaper, in a risque
advertisement for the chemical company Fisons, for what was then the
top people's paper, The Times.
Although glamour models rarely hit the headlines today, it was quite a
different story 30 years ago. The nude picture of her seated on a
sheepskin rug, reaching up to brush her cascading hair, caused huge
controversy and turned her into a household name. Amanda, ten years
younger than Vivien, had little interest in the morals of the day, and
looked up to her sister as a fairytale heroine. Vivien seemed to have
everything - looks, money, fame, and an infectious joy of life.
Her success, however, was to be cruelly shortlived. For at 30,
Vivien's story took a nightmare twist when she learned she had
multiple sclerosis, the crippling disease which affects the nervous
system.
Far from having it all, she lost almost everything, including the man
she loved - her photographer husband John Kelly, who left her because
he couldn't cope with her disease.
Vivien struggled on. She had always been resourceful, down to earth,
brave and determined - and these characteristics, which had been vital
in forming her career, now became invaluable in coping with her
devastating illness.
'When she had visitors she wouldn't talk about being ill,' says
Amanda, now 44. 'She stayed positive and was always good company. She
simply refused to be beaten by it.' It was a 24-year battle that
Vivien lost just after Christmas when she died at the Royal Surrey
County Hospital in Guildford where she apparently also caught the MRSA
superbug.
Yet even after her death, Vivien remains a controversial figure and
the postscript to her story bristles with rumours of family friction,
negligence and exploitation.
Amanda, a former aerobics teacher, knows her sister better than anyone
and wanted to tell Vivien's real story - a tale of rare beauty, lost
love and betrayal that could have come straight out of a Hollywood
movie.
The second of three daughters, Vivien was born on November 20, 1947 in
Brighton, to Iris, a housewife and her husband William, a senior
engineer with the gas board. When Vivien was 12, her father moved the
family from their council flat to Walton-on-Thames in Surrey.
NEVER displaying any academic interest, Vivien left school as soon as
she could and took a series of mundane jobs. But it was a chance
encounter with a local photographer, who spotted her in the street and
asked to take her picture, that provided Vivien with her springboard
to fame.
The resulting picture that appeared in a local newspaper - in which
she posed in a skirt, 3in above her knee - set off a storm of protest,
but earned Vivien just the kind of recognition she craved. She was on
her way.
At 18 she left home for Swinging London and became a waitress at the
Raymond Revue Bar strip club in Soho. Penthouse magazine soon heard
about her perfect 36-23-36 figure and before long she was appearing as
the magazine's 'pet of the month' (fee GBP 75) and earning herself the
soubriquet The Body.
She lived life to the full, too, with a series of boyfriends that
included top photographer David Bailey, impressionist Mike Yarwood and
a another man 20 years her senior with whom she moved in.
'Mum was always understanding, but our father, who was also a scout
master, had a strong moral code and was initially furious that she was
living in sin,' recalls Amanda.
'At first he wouldn't let me stay with her in London but eventually,
when I was 12, he agreed. I had a lot of flak from girls at school
about my sister earning money by taking her clothes off, but I adored
her and never felt jealous.' One can imagine how glamorous Vivien's
life seemed to her young, impressionable sister - not least because
Vivien also helped Amanda get her own modelling work.
'She got me my first job when I was 12,' beams Amanda, who also went
on to be a topless model. 'She was appearing as a bride and I was her
bridesmaid.
She bought me wonderful clothes, too, including a flowery trouser suit
which was then the height of fashion.
SHE ALSO took me along to her photo- shoots. She was incredible. As
soon as she was in front of a camera she would exude sex appeal.
'John Kelly, who used to photograph her before they married, had a
favourite greasy spoon cafH in Pimlico and Vivien often went there
with him straight from the studio looking very glamorous. It made
every one of the men choke on their eggs and bacon.' Vivien and John
married in 1973 and Vivien, who at the height of her fame was earning
GBP 20,000 a year, (about GBP 200,000 in today's money), decided to
invest in bricks and mortar. She bought a property on the Brighton
seafront and The Summers, a vast, rundown 16th-century, 12-bedroom
mansion set in 14 acres in West Clandon, Surrey.
Perhaps more surprising than her business sense, however, were
Vivien's maternal and domestic instincts.
'She converted it into a stunning home,' says Amanda. 'There was a
large part of her that just wanted to be a mother and make a home.
'She was thrilled when she became pregnant the following year and
didn't think twice about cutting back on her career. She also loved
animals which she rescued from different sanctuaries.
At one time, she had eight donkeys, 33 cats, two dogs, various birds
and eight geese at West Clandon.' When Vivien's daughter Kelly was
born, Amanda moved into The Summers for six months to help look after
the baby. Soon afterwards, however, life delivered its untimely
bodyblow.
'Vivien's MS began with what she described as a numbness in her
fingers which soon crept down the side of her body,' says Amanda.
'She was eventually taken into hospital for tests. The doctors gave
John and our father their diagnosis, but left it to them to tell
Vivien - which they did about six months later.
'I don't know why they kept it from her. Perhaps it was to protect her
from stress. She was always so brave and kept saying: "I won't let it
get me." I really admired the way she coped.' John, however, found he
simply couldn't come to terms with Vivien's illness and walked out on
her when their daughter was about ten. He moved to Holland, where he
remarried.
'Vivien was devastated when John left,' says Amanda. 'He was the great
love of her life. Perhaps if he realised how much she loved him, he
wouldn't have gone.' Amanda, who was by then married with a daughter
and living in West Sussex, visited her sister as often as she could,
but one can imagine how hard it must have been for Vivien, both
emotionally and physically, to continue living alone in her vast
mansion. And how vulnerable she must have been.
Indeed, her loneliness perhaps explains how, when David Stredwick, 16
years her junior, walked through the door of The Summers to do some
electrical work, they soon became lovers.
Vivien's family were initially delighted as he seemed to be a
combination of a male Pollyanna and Prince Charming. 'He seemed so
caring,' says Amanda. 'He insisted on doing the cooking and cleaning
as well as looking after Vivien.
We were pleased that she had found someone to look after her.' By now,
as multiple sclerosis took its cruel hold, living in the grand house
became too much for Vivien and she moved into a cottage in the
grounds. She let the house first to Marlon Brando and then to Boy
George, before selling it with part of the land for approximately GBP
1million.
Soon afterwards, she embarked on an uncharacteristic spending spree -
buying a Rolls Royce and a sports car for David. They went on exotic
holidays and Vivien bought Wurlitzer jukeboxes for David to renovate
and sell. 'At one time they had 34,' Amanda recalls.
The family used to visit her regularly, but perhaps became rather
complacent - for when David began telling them it was inconvenient to
call, they made little fuss.
'By this time the MS was affecting Vivien's ability to speak, so he
always answered the phone,' Amanda recalls. 'He'd say she wasn't
feeling well and that we shouldn't come. We didn't suspect anything.
She also had, by this time, given him power of attorney.
'I later discovered,' she claims, 'that he spent most of the time
drinking and spending my sister's money. Sometimes he left her on her
own all night.'
It was only when Vivien and Amanda's 74-year- old father William died
of heart failure in March 1997 that Amanda became determined to see
her sister face to face. 'I had to tell her the news myself,' she
says.
When she arrived at the house, however, she found no one to let her
in. 'I knew Vivien had to be inside so I went to the local pub to see
if I could find David.
'Sure enough, he was there drinking with friends.
'He told me it wasn't convenient for me to see Vivien, but changed his
mind only when I threatened to call the police.' Amanda was shocked
when she saw the state her sister was in. 'She was in bed, totally in
the dark and very disorientated. She looked terrible. Who knows how
long she had been left there?
'She couldn't even have got herself a drink if she had been thirsty. I
asked her daughter Kelly to move in to keep an eye on her mother and
David, which she did.' Vivien was admitted to hospital with
dehydration. 'While she was there, David turned up drunk one night at
her home at 3am,' says Amanda.
'Kelly was frightened and called the police who took him away and we
haven't seen him since.' VIVIEN stayed in hospital for about six weeks
until care was sorted out for her. By this time she'd moved from the
cottage to the one-upone-down coach house also on the grounds. Amanda
organised the building work to make it suitable for a live-in carer.
'We also discovered that the cottage had been sold. Sadly, we don't
know what has happened to the capital from that, or the mansion, or
Vivien's wonderful antique furniture. And by this time, Vivien
couldn't speak, so it was difficult to know how she felt about
things.' Amanda, meanwhile, continued to visit her sister regularly.
'I used to cleanse her face, give her a massage, do her hair and put
on her makeup.
'Even though she couldn't use her facial muscles, she still looked so
beautiful.
Whenever I saw her, I wanted to cry but I knew I couldn't in front of
her.' She last saw her sister on her birthday - November 20 - in
hospital in Guildford. 'The ward sister came to tell me she had the
MRSA bug. I knew it would be the end because she was so weak.
'Vivien went home but was readmitted with pneumonia. I didn't go to
visit her then. I couldn't face seeing her suffer any more.' It was at
6am on the Sunday after Christmas that Kelly telephoned to say Vivien
had died. 'I know she was so ill, but I think she chose her own time
to go.
'Kelly had just told her that John's marriage had broken up. I am sure
she thought he would come back and be there for Kelly and they would
be a loving family again.
'Vivien might be remembered for those glamorous photographs, but to
have a loving family was all she ever really wanted.' DONATIONS can be
sent to The MS Society, 372 Edgware Road, Staples Corner, London NW2
6ND, tel: 0808 800 8000.