The Andy Warhol Diaries

by Andy Warhol

  Monday, December 7, 1981

  I’m doing a fold-out page for Artforum. They asked me to, and I was considering a fold-out drag queen or a fold-out advertisement for my modeling career but decided on a dollar sign, since Leo already took an ad out for it. And Leo called and said that the portrait of Laura really was destroyed, and I just don’t know what to say to that. I’m not going to give them a free replacement. If they want another one they’ll have to pay for it. It’s not my problem, it’s their problem.

  Fred was out all day helping Diana Vreeland because I guess she was nervous about her show that’s opening at the Met.

  Halston had ten of his models and six limos and so we all got in different ones and it was fun. At the museum, Marisa Berenson was doing a thing for Entertainment Tonight so we went into a room for photos. There were lots of photographers there. Every snazzy lady in town—Brooke Astor, Enid Haupt—everybody in glamorous dresses. And Raquel Welch was really sweet, she’s so happy because she’s a hit in Woman of the Year.

  The costume show was eighteenth-century clothes. The kind of dresses with the wide wide skirts so you couldn’t fit through the doorways. What is the reason for them? Was it to go to the bathroom and nobody would see you? That’s what Patti LuPone told me once.

  Oh, and I talked to Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., and that was fun, he’s really handsome.

  Tuesday, December 8, 1981

  At lolas’s opening I met Werner Erhard who was with the Stassinopoulos woman, and he’s so handsome! He’s so handsome! He should be a movie star. And I hope his portrait comes through because then I’d get a lot of his EST disciples, they’d all want portraits.

  Friday, December 11, 1981

  I went to my exercise class ($30) at Lady Sharon’s apartment. And Lidija said that she heard from Sharon’s maid who wasn’t supposed to say anything that Sharon might be about to evict us. So we’re just hoping that she doesn’t decide to really tell us. Sharon’s in England now, but when I rode down in the elevator with her the other day she didn’t seem happy. Or maybe she wanted me to go out with her more. I don’t know. She’s putting on weight.

  Fred was invited to Mrs. Marcos’s house on 66th between Madison and Fifth, the one she bought five years ago. She’s in town now giving lots of parties in it. It’s on my street and we got there and it’s a house twice the size of mine, and she had a Christmas tree on every floor and a disco on the top floor, but there was no central heat so they had to put heaters in every socket. And that’s when I remembered that I’d actually been getting the Marcoses’ Con Ed bills at my house, with a notice saying they were going to turn off the electricity if they didn’t pay the bill. It’s something about the way the address was written, it would always come to me at 57 East 66th and I opened them. The maid gave me a tour and it was funny, security people and people in furs huddling around the heaters. Such rich people. Such grand people. All in New York. What does it mean? It’s scary. It’s really scary. Maybe they’re here because it’s Christmas, but oh it’s scary.

  The Cristina Ford lady was there, so grand, and Imelda was dancing with Van Cliburn. They were serving champagne like water. I heard that Imee Marcos is seeing Lupo Rattazzi again. Said goodnight to Mrs. Marcos. Then I walked home.

  Saturday, December 12, 1981

  Halston called and invited me to dinner for Jade Jagger. Brought Jade a Dollar Sign painting. Bianca is trying to be a Communist, she’s a Nicaraguan guerrilla now. Halston was funny, telling her how beautiful she looked and how rich her clothes were, and I told her I’d just been to see Mrs. Marcos and she said how could I, and I said that if the Marcos regime fell it’d just be another Iran.

  Steve Rubell was there and Ian came, and Ian is having an affair with Jane Holzer, which I didn’t know about, but he thought I did so he was talking as if I knew, trying to pump me about Jane. But he was after Bianca, too, he wanted to drop her off. Calvin called a couple of times for Steve. Calvin’s kind of great. He does anything he wants—he takes ads in Interview and in WWD, and he goes to 54 and to Xenon—he doesn’t let anyone push him around.

  Bianca’s going down to testify about Nicaragua in Washington, I just don’t know what she’s thinking she’s doing.

  Sunday, December 13, 1981

  Cabbed to Jon’s apartment but his fuse had blown and so we went out looking for fuses because we wanted to work on scripts, and then cabbed ($4.50) to my place and watched Apocalypse Now which looked really good on TV—and on a small screen Dennis wasn’t so bad and neither was Marlon Brando. Jon left at 11:00.

  Monday, December 14, 1981

  I’m just starting to get a good body. I wish I’d started exercising when I was young, I could have had a good body all my life.

  It was snowing hard. I went in to Interview and stood there finding typos in the Nancy Reagan issue. I just don’t see why there should be even one. And it’s something people really notice. It’s like that secretary from Interview saying she saw me in the laundromat on Columbus Avenue with Jon doing his laundry. It stands out, so people remember it.

  Tuesday, December 15, 1981

  I took a Vibromycin and later at my beauty class I got nauseous, so I had a cracker and water. It was raining out, really messy and wet. Met John Reinhold and we went to our regular place which is called Think Thin. We talked about designing jewelry.

  And Bob is trying to find out who to have interview Farrah Fawcett. Gore Vidal wouldn’t do it, he said, “I don’t do interviews—I give them.”

  Bob Denison sent me this great cheese and bread from E.A.T., I’ve been eating it. He told me that Fred made a scene at Donina Cicogna’s silver and white party, but he wouldn’t tell me what it was—something about Pat Buckley’s tits.

  Wednesday, December 16, 1981

  Got up early and went to Christie’s and passed out Interviews. They were having an Indian jewelry exhibition and gee, that stuff is so expensive now. I guess it was Ralph Lauren who drove the prices up to $15-30,000 a belt, some of them.

  Brigid was dyeing my surgical corsets for me, the ones I wear around my stomach because of when I was shot. She does a beautiful job on them. The colors are so glamorous, but it looks like no one will ever see them on me—things aren’t progressing with Jon. We just work on scripts and that’s it.

  And as I was getting out of the cab, I tripped over myself because my bag full of makeup was so heavy and at first I felt like a little kid, but then after I thought about it I felt like an old man. And I scraped myself and I was bleeding, but nobody saw me except the cabdriver and I pretended it was nothing and skipped home.

  Jon picked me up and we cabbed ($4) to 1600 Broadway to a screening of Four Friends, which is about these kids in the sixties with a lot of plot and subplots and it goes into hippie psychedelic times. It was like all those bad movies that came out in ‘68 and ‘69. I thought it was as bad as Honky Tonk Freeway but Jon got really emotional—he was crying all through the movie. So I dropped him off at 10:30.

  Watched a Chuck Norris kung-fu movie on TV. He’s not good-looking but he’s really sexy.

  Thursday, December 24, 1981

  Steve Rubell wanted me to go to C.Z. Guest’s Christmas thing in Old Westbury, but that would have meant an hour drive out there and an hour back. I didn’t want to do anything difficult because I was so afraid I was getting sick. I could feel it in my throat. Jon called from Massachusetts and wanted to know what shirt size I wore. I was the only one home, so he had to ask me. He said he’d call Halston’s at 10:00.

  Got home and was too tired, had some brandy and got drunk by the time I was supposed to go out. The dogs were with Jed, away for the holidays. Walked over to Halston’s. Victor had called and given me the list of people who were going to be there, about twenty names, and I’d made up some packages to give them—snot rags with dollar signs. And a piece of sculpture.

  Liza was there, though, and Victor hadn’t said she would be and I didn’t have anything for her, so I said I’d give her a Martha, and she
was thrilled, she threw up her arms. Liza’d been to Harlem all day to visit the sick kids in the hospital. And that’s the best thing to do. Jane Holzer and I said we’d do it next year. Liza’s here seeing her father, he’s dying of heart problems. Pat Cleveland was there, just over hepatitis, and she kissed everybody and my resistance is so low I think I’ll get it. Jane told me finally that she’s madly in love with Ian Schrager and I said I didn’t want to hear it because I’d only tell her negative things and then she’d only report them to him who I do really like. I told her that she should just get his business sense from him and that’s it.

  She’d had gold dimes made up, had them cast, and she gave one to me. She had them made up for Ian because he always puts dimes in his mouth for phone calls. It’s such a clever gift.

  At 3:00 Jane dropped me off and I took aspirin and packed and took a sleeping pill.

  Sunday, December 27, 1981—Denver—Aspen, Colorado

  In Denver we got two cute pilots in a jet, they had suits on, and we had cold lobster and drinks and the ride was fun and beautiful and the snow was very beautiful, and then as we were about to land in Grand Junction they said they had good news, that the storm had stopped and we could be the first plane to be able to land in Aspen ($100 X 2 = $200). The rented house was just beautiful, clean and with a picture window on the mountains. Jane Holzer called and she’s not coming until after New Year’s.

  My cold was starting up again, it had completely gone away the day before. But at least I wasn’t having an altitude problem. I was taking antihistamines and Aspergum and cough medicine. Peter made us mashed potatoes and salad for dinner. We watched Shampoo on TV, then went to bed.

  Tuesday, December 29, 1981—Aspen

  Got up early, and by then I did have an altitude problem. Dropped Peter and Jon on the slopes, went with Christopher to get groceries, spent a couple of hours in town. Met all these people who were surprised seeing me and I didn’t recognize them in their ski clothes. Tatum O’Neal came over and she looked so cute and beautiful in her white ski suit.

  And then it was such a pretty day, the sun was out and it was cold for Aspen but it was the best snow they’ve ever had.

  We went to Angelo’s Restaurant for dinner and Sonny Bono came over and said he was getting married on New Year’s Eve to his girlfriend Susie and he invited me to his wedding party at Cathy Lee Crosby’s, and also he was having a shower later that night for Susie at Andre’s, which is the only disco in town.

  When we got to Andre’s Cathy Lee didn’t know who I was at first. It was like trying to get into Studio 54, and I just don’t think any of those things are worth it. So I just said to Chris, “I just can’t stand it, let’s get out of here.”

  Wednesday, December 30, 1981—Aspen

  Chris and I decided to have just simple baby instructors on the baby slope so that we could work our way up. We had a private instructor from 1:30 to 3:30 and the course was called “Powder Pandas” and it was on Buttermilk. We did about two hours of zigzagging and going up the handrail and you just sort of sit on the thing and go up the whole hill, and it was really fun. It was easy, all two-year-olds skiing with me, and if you start when you’re two you can really go with the waves and relax and become a good skier, but I was so tense. I fell three times. But it was fun, the idea of falling was more fun than skiing because you fall right in the snow and it’s really fun. Saw Caroline Kennedy with the Schlossberg boy. They’re madly in love and they were going off to parties.

  Thursday, December 31, 1981—Aspen

  We went to Sonny’s wedding. We finally found the beautiful church and we had to stand, the ceremony was already on, and they were singing beautiful songs, and the preacher finally came on and said, “I pronounce you, Sonny and Cherie”—he said “Cherie” instead of “Susie”—and the whole audience gasped and she said, “My name isn’t Cher-ie, it’s Susie,” and the preacher got very upset, he said that he just knew he was going to do that, and then he said a million times, “Sonny and Susie, Sonny and Susie” till the end of the ceremony. They had lighted candles and Chastity was the flower girl, she was kind of tall. And it was really beautiful, it was snowing outside and everybody had candles and Susie was all in white and Sonny was crying. We were invited to Cathy Lee Crosby’s party for Sonny. But we went off to one of the halls where Jimmy Buffett and his wife were hosting a New Year’s Eve party.

  We found a corner where Lisa Taylor was and I made a faux pas and asked her about John McEnroe and she said she just broke up with him and she was drowning herself in drink. She was drinking tequila and Coke in a shot glass, she said it goes right to your head and you get drunk really fast. And then I said hello to Jack Nicholson and Anjelica. And in yesterday’s paper Margaret Trudeau talked about her affair with Jack, and her new book is out where she talks about her cowboy Tom Sullivan and she doesn’t even say that he died.

  Cathy Lee Crosby’s party was starting at 11:30 but I didn’t want to be in anybody’s house at the twelve o’clock thing, so while we were walking we just decided to stay in the square, we let all the other people go ahead and we just stood in the square because it was like a small version of Times Square. It was all the Aspen kids all drunk, sort of drooling and falling and blowing horns and stuff like that in the middle of town, and it was sort of cute, it looked like La Boheme, it looked more fake than the real thing.

  Friday, January 1, 1982—Aspen

  Decided to go to the hospital to see if my arm was broken from when I’d fallen the day before. Went to the emergency room, they were really nice there. One girl was really fun, out of Pittsburgh or my grade school or something and then while we were there I got X-rayed and while we were waiting for the X-rays they put you in these little cubicles made of bedspreads and then they wheeled a man in who said, “Am I in heaven?” and he said he couldn’t feel anything below his neck, and they all got scared and they wheeled him under the X-ray machine. And there were all these kids with bones coming out of their legs and it scared me so much.

  And then it was four o’clock and Jon had to meet someone named Dawn Steel from Paramount Pictures at the United City Bank.

  Went to Barbi Benton’s for dinner and Zev Bufman, the Little Foxes producer, was there. And Mrs. Bufman, who I could see would never let him have an affair with Elizabeth Taylor. Barbi gave us a tour of the house and it’s sort of like the Watts Tower, all built by hand—the architect would go to the stream and get the marble to build the steps. It was sort of nice, but not with the things that Barbi put up.

  Monday, January 4, 1982—Aspen—New York

  Got back, called the office, I was going to go downtown to work but it was already 5:30. Vincent was going to his Lamaze class. Stayed in and unpacked.

  I dropped a ring in the sink and it stuck there. Picked up Jon and went to Halston’s. It was only Steve Rubell and Victor, and Halston said that two days ago he bought 100 acres in Montauk with Lauren Hutton. So now there won’t be condominiums between Dick Cavett’s place and ours. And Bianca wants to rent Montauk while Halston builds. My arm was still hurting.

  Tuesday, January 5, 1982

  Got up early, still felt like Aspen. Sort of dizzy and floating as if I was on an LSD trip, which I’ve never been. My lungs are still funny from being shot, I guess.

  Got a lot of invitations to dinner. Talked to Jon and he thought we should work on scripts.

  He came over and we worked and he left at 9:30. Watched TV, and my arm was really aching and that’s when I took an aspirin and the last news on TV was that Hans Conried just died.

  Wednesday, January 6, 1982

  Heiner Friedrich was having a tea party at his place on 82nd Street. You were supposed to take your shoes off but I didn’t and I should have. And the driver who drove us was the best driver I’ve ever had, named Manny, he was sort of black. Fred told me I couldn’t say anything to Heiner about loaning us money for the building. But Heiner’s having another party next week and then I will. Because he’s taking John Chamberl
ain’s loft and making a museum for him there, and I think why doesn’t he rent the Madison Avenue part of our new building and have the museum for me there? I would ask him but people only want to do things if they think of it themselves, so I’ll just hint and hint. I did suggest that he open a bar in the building and he said no, no, that Moslems don’t drink—he and Philippa are Moslems now that they’re Whirling Dervishes.

  Saturday, January 9, 1982

  Another big opening of mine—a double—Dollar Signs at the Castelli on Greene Street and Reversals at the Castelli on West Broadway.

  Bob Rauschenberg was at the opening and Joseph Beuys and Hans Namuth and it was like a busy sixties day. And I forget how attractive artists are. They really are attractive.

  The stairs were the best place to stand to see people and sign things. Then went over to the Greene Street thing, and the heavyweights were there. Rosenquist didn’t know what to say so he told me he loved the photograph of me.

  Sunday, January 10, 1982

  Not one phone call. That’s what happens after being a big star the night before, not one person called all morning. Finally at 12:45 the phone rang, it was my brother. Brigid called and she said that she’d gone to the Chelsea to see Viva who’d just had her baby.