Eating disorders. Drugs. And a toxic romance with epic philanderer David Bailey.
Now age 74, top model PENELOPE TREE reveals: How I survived the Swinging Sixties At 74, she has never gone under the knife - and is happy being single Her debut novel, Piece Of My Heart, reflects the model's own experiences By Frances Hardy for the Daily Mail Published: 12:08 BST, 23 May 2024 | Updated: 12:25 BST, 23 May 2024 e-mail 3 View comments Penelope Tree was the ultimate Swinging Sixties ‘It-girl’; her style idiosyncratic, her hallmark look a kind of kooky luminosity that defied convention. Such was her fame that, when asked to describe her in three words, John Lennon said she was ‘Hot, Hot, Hot! Smart, Smart Smart!’ The innocent daughter of wealthy well-connected parents, she was 18 when she became besotted by the photographer David Bailey, whose charisma was edged with danger. The attraction was instant and mutual.
‘There was an electrical connection between us,’ she reflects now, 56 years later. ‘In some ways he was a terrible, selfish, rampant male but he could also be very sweet and protective. It’s just that he couldn’t resist the women who threw themselves at him.
I don’t think many men, put in his position, could.’ Penelope Tree, now 74, was a Vogue model and the muse of photographer David Bailey Penelope was discovered in 1966 at Truman Capote’s masquerade Black and White Ball When they met, Bailey’s marriage to the French actress Catherine Deneuve was i.