The Tragic Story of Ernest Hemingway's Supermodel Granddaughter, Margaux Hemingway Mark GrayNovember 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM 0 Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty Margaux Hemingway in 1990. Margaux Hemingway was found dead on July 2, 1996 The supermodel had graced the covers of many magazines, with Time dubbing her "New York's Supermodel" Margaux previously spoke to PEOPLE about her struggles with alcohol, saying, "For a time, I was living the life of Ernest Hemingway" She was once thought to be the face of a generation, but on July 2, 1996, supermodel Margaux Hemingway, the granddaughter ...
- - The Tragic Story of Ernest Hemingway's Supermodel Granddaughter, Margaux Hemingway
Mark GrayNovember 1, 2025 at 9:00 PM
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Ron Galella/Ron Galella Collection via Getty
Margaux Hemingway in 1990. -
Margaux Hemingway was found dead on July 2, 1996
The supermodel had graced the covers of many magazines, with Time dubbing her "New York's Supermodel"
Margaux previously spoke to PEOPLE about her struggles with alcohol, saying, "For a time, I was living the life of Ernest Hemingway"
She was once thought to be the face of a generation, but on July 2, 1996, supermodel Margaux Hemingway, the granddaughter of beloved writer Ernest Hemingway, was found dead in her Southern California apartment.
The model and actress, who graced the cover of countless fashion magazines in the 1970s, died from a "massive overdose of barbiturate," the Los Angeles Times reported. A spokesman for the Los Angeles County coroner later said the official cause of death was "acute barbiturate intoxication," and the amount — which her body didn't have time to digest before she died, according to the New York Times — was consistent with an intentional overdose.
Standing 6 feet tall and with radiant eyes, Margaux burst onto the scene before turning 21. Early in her career, she inked a deal with Fabergé's Babe perfume for $1 million, an unheard-of sum for a model in the '70s. In 1975, Time magazine called her "New York's Supermodel." While her status in the Big Apple soared, she never felt comfortable among the stars, having previously lived in Ketchum, Idaho, a small town whose population hovered around 2,000 in the mid-'70s.
"It sounds glamorous, and it was. I was having a lot of fun. But I was also very naive when I came on the scene," she told PEOPLE in 1988 for a cover story. "I genuinely thought that people liked me for myself — for my humor and good qualities. I never expected to meet so many professional leeches."
Jochen Harder/ullstein bild via Getty
Margaux Hemingway poses for a photo in 1982.
Although she leaned into the lifestyle, she fully embraced its trappings, admitting she was an "alcoholic" and eventually checked herself into the Betty Ford Center, a famed treatment center, when she was 32.
"For a time, I was living the life of Ernest Hemingway," she told PEOPLE. "I think alcohol drove my grandfather to suicide, but I'm still alive because I did something about it."
Born with the name Margot, she changed it to "Margaux Hemingway" upon learning that her parents had named her after the Château Margaux wine from France, according to The New York Times. Still, her name and her two-and-a-half-year marriage to film producer Errol Wetson opened doors.
"For me, becoming a celebrity was like being in the eye of a hurricane. Suddenly, I was an international cover girl. Everybody was lapping up my Hemingway-ness. They wanted to rub elbows with me or brush up against me," she told PEOPLE.
Pictorial Parade/Getty American writer Ernest Hemingway (1899 - 1961) smiles at the camera while his fouth wife, journalist Mary Welsh Hemingway (1908 - 1986) (center) and actress Ava Gardner (1922 - 1990) sit nearby and converse, mid to late 1950s.
It didn't take long before the Lipstick actress was a regular at Studio 54 in New York City.
"I drank to loosen up. I never thought then that alcohol would become a problem. In my grandfather's time, it was a virtue to be able to drink a lot and never show it. And like him, I wanted to live my life to the fullest, with gusto," she said in the PEOPLE interview. "I always thought alcohol would give me the strength and courage to do whatever I wanted to do. In fact, it made me less able to think clearly."
Margaux admitted to having mental health struggles and turning to alcohol, particularly after the end of her first marriage to Watson and her second marriage to Bernard Foucher, to whom she was married to for six years.
"I grew very depressed over the failure of this marriage," she said of her relationship with Foucher. "My thoughts were erratic, and I had trouble with my memory ... But I was never a fall-down drunk, and admitting that I was an alcoholic at that time would have been as shameful as saying I was a murderer."
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Eventually, Margaux turned to Hollywood, appearing in several movies and direct-to-video features in the mid-1980s and early 1990s. Still, she never quite achieved the same level of success she had as a model.
The 42-year-old was the fifth Hemingway in four generations to allegedly die by suicide. In fact, Margaux's death came on the eve of the 35th anniversary of her grandfather's death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The famed author, who was married four times and had three children, was 61.
At the time, The Independent reported that the For Whom the Bell Tolls author's brother, sister and father had all died by suicide.
If you or someone you know is considering suicide, please contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255), text "STRENGTH" to the Crisis Text Line at 741-741 or go to suicidepreventionlifeline.org.
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Source: Entertainment
Published: November 01, 2025 at 03:09PM on Source: JAST MAG
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