Anita Pallenberg

Anita Pallenberg was a model and actress best known for her involvement with The Rolling Stones in the 1960s and 1970s. She was born in 1942 to Elfriede Paula Wiederhold, a German secretary, and Arnold Pallenberg, a descendant of a prominent family of furniture manufacturers from Cologne, Germany. She grew up in Rome, Italy, where her father owned a travel agency, and Germany, where she was sent to a boarding school at her father’s request. After being expelled from school at 16, she lived in Munich, where she studied at an art school, hung out with the La Dolce Vita crowd in Rome, and eventually traveled to New York where she connected with Andy Warhol’s Factory.

In 1965, Anita Pallenberg was working as a model all over Europe when she met The Rolling Stones backstage at a concert in Munich. She started a tumultuous relationship with guitarist Brian Jones that lasted until she left him for his bandmate Keith Richards in 1967. With Richards, she formed a relationship that lasted 12 years and produced three children. During her time with The Rolling Stones, Anita was considered to be a muse for the band and a huge influence on their style and music. She also became known as an actress in her own right in the late ’60s and early ’70s, working with directors such as Volker Schlöndorff, who directed her debut A Degree of Murder (1967) and Roger Vadim in Barbarella (1968). The end of her relationship with Richards in the late 1970s, personal struggles with addiction, and the death of her youngest son shortly after his birth saw her drift from the public eye for many years.

In the 1990s, Anita Pallenberg returned to the spotlight. She got a degree in fashion design and took occasional small roles in film and on television. Her status as a fashion icon, inspiring designers and celebrities, remains to this day.

Anita Pallenberg died in 2017 due to complications from hepatitis C.