Marianne Faithfull, the actress and singer who was also famous for her connection to The Rolling Stones, has died. She was 78.
A spokesperson for Faithfull confirmed her death to The BBC, sharing that she died at home in London.
“It is with deep sadness that we announce the death of the singer, songwriter and actress Marianne Faithfull,” they said in a statement.
“Marianne passed away peacefully in London today, in the company of her loving family,” they added. “She will be dearly missed.”
News of her death comes after years of health struggles for the star, who battled bulimia, breast cancer and emphysema, per BBC. Faithfull also landed in the hospital for 22 days back in 2020 after contracting COVID-19. After she was discharged, she released She Walks in Beauty, her 21st album.
Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London in 1946. She rose to fame for her music, including chart hits like “As Tears Go By,” which was written by The Rolling Stones members Keith Richards and Mick Jagger, as well as the band’s manager Andrew Loog Oldham.
Faithfull would go on to date Jagger, who penned Stones hits like “Wild Horses” and “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” about his girlfriend.
Not long after the release of “As Tears Go By,” Faithfull starred in two of her biggest films: 1968’s The Girl on a Motorcycle and 1969’s Hamlet. Her career suffered in the coming years as she fell into an addiction to heroin and prescription drugs, per Deadline, but Faithfull reemerged in the late ’70s with the albums Dreamin’ My Dreams and 1979’s Broken English, which was nominated for a Grammy.
While Faithfull made a name for herself as a musician, she also built up a lengthy acting resume, with a three-episode role as God in Absolutely Fabulous, plus appearances in Sophia Coppola‘s Marie Antoinette — in which she played Empress Maria Theresa — and a recent role in Dune: Part One voicing the Bene Gesserit ancestors.
Faithfull is survived by her son, Nicholas Dunbar.
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