Twiggy has reflected on an uncomfortable encounter with director Woody Allen.
The English model, actor and singer, 75, real name Dame Lesley Lawson, became one of the most iconic fashion models of the Sixties after being discovered in a photoshoot for a hairdresser aged 16.
Throughout her early career, the teenager frequently endured misogynistic interviews, with TV hosts enquiring about her body measurements and expressing desires to see her in swimwear.
In 1967, Twiggy made her first trip to the US and was interviewed by Allen, who attempted to humiliate her by asking who her favourite philosopher was in front of a studio audience.
“What are your views on serious matters?” he asks, while Twiggy frowns in surprise. “Like, who’s your favourite philosopher?”
Despite internally panicking, the model quickly turned the question back around on Allen: “I haven’t got one. I don’t know any,” she admits, before adding: “Who’s yours?”
Allen then scrambles for an answer in the clip, replying: “I don’t know, I like them all,” to which Twiggy probed again: “Who?”.
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The director responded vaguely: “I don’t know. Just all of them,” he said, as Twiggy badgered him again, saying: “But I don’t know their names. What are their names?”
Reflecting on the uncomfortable interview, Twiggy told The Guardian: “He was trying to make me look stupid. My heart sank. I remember looking at him, pleading with my eyes for him to stop.”
The model added: “If I was the age he was there, in my 30s, I would never have behaved like that towards someone who was only 17.”
Despite appearing defiant in the Allen interview footage, Twiggy admitted during an appearance on The One Show that she was deeply embarrassed by the director’s behaviour.
“My whole stomach fell to my knees,” she said. “It was horrible, I was so humiliated because I didn't know any.”
When asked how she managed to give some attitude back, the model admitted: “I didn't plan to, I was in panic, that came out of panic. I just didn't want to cry.”
Elsewhere in The Guardian interview, Twiggy recalled an alarming night with Phil Spector where the producer pulled out a gun after inviting her to his house alongside her first husband Michael Witney because he didn’t want to call her “Twiggy”.
“I’d never seen a real one before. Only on the telly. My legs went. Michael carried me out of there,” she said.
Viewers were quick to express their joy at seeing Twiggy on screen again following her appearance on The One Show. “Twiggy is an icon love her,” one person wrote.
Meanwhile, another viewer added: “Twiggy is stunning! How does she never age. Can't believe she's 75??? Looks more like 55. Seriously, what's her secret?”
Back in 2023, Twiggy revealed that cosmetic surgery “frightens” her, and said she has never undergone procedures such as Botox.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said she is “proud” of her wrinkles, but said she was open to the idea of having “little tweaks” someday.
“But what I don’t think I’d ever do is all the stuff they inject, when they get those funny cheeks that look like cotton wool balls have been stuffed in them,” she said. “It would frighten me.”
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