These Raw Details From Grace Jones' Personal Life Might Surprise Even Her Biggest Fans

Jones grew up in Jamaica with her grandparents, as her parents both worked in the U.S. The household was extremely religious – they all went to church three times a week. In a 2008 interview with The Guardian, Jones likened it to being “force-fed” religion. She believes this repressive upbringing actually made her the rebellious free spirit she is today, though.

As hard as it may be to believe, given she has made a career out of being confident in herself to an almost pathological degree, Jones was apparently a shy child. She reportedly only had one friend at school in Jamaica, where she was bullied for being too skinny. One saving grace, though – if you’ll forgive the pun – was that she excelled at sports as a youngster.

Jones’ brother Christian was a brilliant keyboard player who directed the choir at the church that the family attended. But, as she told newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald in 2008 he was “born swishy.” The implication is that her religious parents worried he was a homosexual; they eventually stopped him from singing and playing piano in the choir. Christian argued with his parents, and Jones took his side – her first act of rebellion.

Jones was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica. That much is known for sure. But even though her birth year is mostly listed as 1948, she disputed that in her 2015 autobiography, I’ll Never Write My Memoirs. She wrote, “They say I’m a lot older than I actually am. In the press, on the internet, they add about four years to my actual age. I don’t care at all. I like to keep the mystery.”

Jones has a unique singing voice, usually choosing to deliver her lyrics in either a contralto speaking voice or a high soprano style. In technical terms, this means her vocal range spans two-and-a-half octaves. She can sound quite low and masculine at times but then surprise you by hitting a high note you’d never expect her to be able to reach.

In the early ‘70s, while she was living in Paris, Jones was spotted by fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez dancing with reckless abandon in a nightclub. This led to a collaboration between the two that saw her modeling career take off. In fact, she became famous as one of “Antonio’s girls,” the group of models who were regulars at Paris’ Club Sept. Together, they would help revolutionize Paris nightlife.

Art director Jean-Paul Goude first saw Jones in New York nightclub Les Mouches – topless and singing her own hit song “I Need A Man.” He would become her closest artistic collaborator and lover. It was Goude who helped Jones craft her iconic aesthetic. In his 1982 book Jungle Fever, he wrote that she was “a creature whose unique beauty transcends both the gender of her sex and the ethnicity usually associated with the color of her skin.”

In 1970 Jones joined the Paris modeling agency Euro Planning and began to live with another two models signed by the fledgling outfit. Who were they? None other than Jerry Hall, who would become an iconic supermodel, and Jessica Lange, who went on to be an Academy Award-winning actress. In her memoir, Jones wrote, “I have remained friends with Jerry and Jessica to this day, and we help each other and inspire each other.”

Jones’ flattop hairstyle is her signature. It was created by stylist Christiaan Houtenbos, who lived in the same block of flats. He told Vogue magazine, “In the middle of the night, we heard Grace screaming, ‘Christiaan, I need a haircut!’” He had a distinct vision in mind, but no clippers to hand, so he cut her hair with scissors and then finished it off with a men’s Gillette razor. Talk about improvisation!

In 2016 Roger Moore was asked about his A View To A Kill co-star Jones at an event. He responded, “My mother once said if you have nothing good to say about someone, then say nothing at all.” Oof. He also once revealed they got into an argument because Jones insisted on playing loud rock music in her dressing room at all times. His dressing room was right beside hers, and he claimed the walls shook.

Before Jones hit it big with her breakthrough new wave album Nightclubbing in 1981, she released three disco records that enjoyed mixed success. Portfolio from 1977 showcased some eclectic influences, all filtered through the prism of disco. It included a medley of Stephen Sondheim show tunes and a cover of Edith Piaf’s “La Vie en Rose” that lasted for seven-and-a-half minutes. Jones is nothing if not unique.

Jones signed with New York agency Wilhelmina Models in the late ‘60s but initially struggled to define her look. What kind of model did she want to be? Jones revealed to The Guardian in 2015, “To find out, I went very, very extreme, almost too far. I shaved my head and eyebrows, which was a big mistake.” Company co-founder Wilhelmina Cooper was horrified and made Jones wear a wig until her hair grew back.

Jones admitted in her memoir that she turned down the role of Zhora in Ridley Scott’s sci-fi masterpiece Blade Runner. She did it out of loyalty to then-boyfriend Goude, who was a rival of Scott’s in the realm of TV commercials. But when she read the script on a flight, she realized her mistake, and called the studio to tell them she’d reconsidered. Unfortunately, the role had already been cast.

In her memoir, Jones spilled the beans on Lady Gaga’s request for a collaboration – a request she declined. She later elaborated on this decision to BBC Radio 4, saying, “I have to not just like what you do, but be inspired by what you do, and I was not inspired. From the very beginning, when I met her, I thought her to be too affected. I thought she was still looking for herself.” Ouch.

Ivan Drago actor Dolph Lundgren dated Jones in the ’80s. Their union was, shall we say, eventful. Lundgren told The Sun newspaper in 2018 that Jones would sometimes bring as many as four or five women home for group sex, but it just left him exhausted. He joked, “It’s great in theory, but when you have to get up and fight Sylvester Stallone in the morning it’s not such a good thing.”

You may think you’re a pioneer for wearing a jaunty top hat to work on dress-down Friday. But you’re no Grace Jones – in the ’70s she pioneered wearing roller skates in the workplace. Yes, she zipped around the office on wheels. In her memoir, she wrote, “I wore roller skates where I worked, answering the phone as a directory assistant. My employers didn’t say anything as long as I did my job.” 

In a 2010 interview with The Guardian, Jones admitted her 1983 single “My Jamaican Guy” wasn’t written about her boyfriend at the time. It’s actually about Tyrone Downie, a member of Bob Marley’s band The Wailers. She revealed, “I couldn’t have him because he was with somebody else. He was a beautiful guy. He doesn’t even know I wrote it about him. Well, he’ll know now.”

The legendary New York nightclub Studio 54 only operated for three years – from 1977 to 1980. Its incredible impact on disco, fashion, celebrity culture and queer representation has ensured it will forever be iconic, though, despite its relatively short run. Jones, who lived life to its fullest excess, was a mainstay. This makes total sense when you consider the club was described as “an adult amusement park” by The Guardian.

These days, when she performs her iconic hit “Slave to the Rhythm” at her concerts, Jones hula hoops. For the entire song. In 2018 she told newspaper the Los Angeles Times, “Hula hooping requires hardly any movement. When people can’t hula hoop, it’s because they’re trying too hard.” Even though she finds it effortless, it’s hard not to be impressed and kind of hypnotized by the elegant movement.

In 2015 Jones told The Globe Mail newspaper, “Traveling is a pain in the ass now.” Specifically, she’s not a fan of being charged extra at the airport for her luggage. She complained, “It’s a conspiracy! An absolute conspiracy to get people to go to the airport early and buy stuff.” The solution? No luggage. She revealed, “I have no bags to pack. I will not check a bag anymore.”

As a teenager, Jones lived in Philadelphia with her boyfriend Sam. They became a part of the thriving countercultural movement of the ’60s. They even lived in communes, which Jones described fondly in her memoir. She wrote, “These hippie communes were all about creative and personal growth, a celebration of expression, the total opposite of how growth and expression had been stunted in Spanish Town.”

When Jones first signed with Elite Model Management in Paris, she was frustrated by the lack of gigs coming her way. She soon confronted founder John Casablancas, who responded, “Trying to sell a black model in Paris is like trying to sell an old car no one wants to buy.” She was furious, obviously, and went on to prove him very wrong over time. 

Have you ever been served beautiful warm fresh bread in a restaurant? Of course, you have. But have you ever been denied butter for that bread? Grace Jones has. When she first went to Paris, this was the culture. Naturally, Jones accepted this with style and, er, grace… by angrily hurling baguettes at the waiters. In the end, she began to bring her own butter when going out for a meal.

Jones also had a bone to pick with Paris taxi drivers. When one refused to let her in their cab when she was pregnant, she came up with a unique revenge method. In her memoir, she revealed, “I also used to carry eggs with me to throw at the taxi drivers when they wouldn’t stop.” She would smash them on the windows and scream, “Now you have to go to the car wash!” 

During a 2015 interview with Dazed magazine, Jones swatted at a fly zipping around her head – a fly she wasn’t sure was really there. She told the interviewer, “I can never tell if I’m tripping.” You see, in the ’60s Jones took a lot of mind-altering LSD, and still advocates for it today. She revealed, “LSD gave me a lot of insight and sensitivity about what is happening 360 degrees around me. I plugged into all of it.”

Jones has one son, Paulo, who came along during her relationship with Jean-Paul Goude. Paulo is currently a member of the band Trybez, who have supported Jones on tour. After she and Goude broke up, Jones reportedly wanted a second child so badly that she asked Goude for some of his sperm – she wanted to artificially inseminate herself. He didn’t go for it.

In 1998 Jones performed at Disney World Florida’s Downtown Disney House of Blues. After this performance, she was reportedly banned from “The Happiest Place on Earth” for life. What did she do, we hear you ask? Well, according to The Orlando Sentinel newspaper, she took her top off and smoked a joint on-stage. To be fair, flashing the crowd is probably not what the House of Mouse had in mind.

In the documentary Bloodlight and Bami, Jones revealed that these days she funds her own records in order to have complete creative control. She told W magazine that when the record companies tried to dictate what she should do, it would wound her deeply. In the end, she realized, “When something like that happens, you really want to do it yourself with your team that believes in the same thing you do.”

Jones is something of an oyster connoisseur. So much so that, when she performs, she includes, “two dozen Findeclare or Colchester oysters on ice.” May God have mercy on you if you serve them to her open, though. She specifically asks for an oyster knife because, as the rider states, “Grace does her own shucking.” There’s an art to it, you see.

During her time living in Paris with Jerry Hall and Jessica Lange, Jones became the talk of the French modeling world. At this point in time, she was already prone to throwing society’s rules out and doing her own thing, though. She reportedly once attended a party being held for politicians wearing a string of bones around her neck. And nothing else. As in, naked. She said it was no big deal.

British TV viewers voted Jones slapping host Russell Harty in 1981 as the most shocking chat-show moment in history. In 2015 Jones told The Guardian, “I still laugh about that, but I was seriously upset by him ignoring me. What I really wanted to do was tilt him over in his chair.” Judging by this comment, it seems Harty may have got off lightly.

This one is pretty crazy. Jones is currently married to a Turkish man named Atila Altaunbay. They wed in 1996 after eloping to Brazil but separated in 2004. Jones literally hasn’t seen him since then, though, so they’re technically still married. She wrote in her memoir, “We’re not divorced. I can’t find him to get the divorce sorted.” 

Jones has a dedicated following in the gay community. This comes from her time as a fixture of the New York City disco scene, where she partied and performed in clubs. Her live shows would become increasingly provocative and sexually charged during her time in the scene. She then became known as the “Queen of Gay Discos,” which is a pretty awesome title to hold.

In her memoir, Jones revealed that she and her siblings lived with their grandmother and step-grandfather for a period as children. He was known as “Mas P,” or Master P, and was a religious sadist who exacted devastating psychological and brutal physical discipline on the kids. In 2015 she told The Guardian she sees herself as a survivor of abuse and stated, “I had no childhood. I’m having it now.”

Jones’ childhood was rough, but she did have one thing that brought her solace: crochet, which she was taught by her great aunt. In her memoir, she wrote, “I wasn’t supposed to play with my brothers. I was meant to stay put and crochet. I loved to crochet; I used to crochet until the skin came off my fingers, and then I would put on a bandage and keep going.”

Jones’ first experience with dressing like a man came during an outdoor photoshoot for La Perla lingerie. It was a male and female shoot, but when some of the male models became sunburned, she impulsively offered to take over for one of them. With her flattop haircut and tall frame, she made it work – in fact, she reportedly exclaimed, “You’d definitely think I was a man in those shots!”

How many people can say their forgetfulness inspired a hit song? Grace Jones can. In 1977 she invited Nile Rogers and Bernard Edwards of R&B group Chic to a New Year’s Eve party at Studio 54. She forgot to put them on the guestlist, though, so security didn’t let them in. Angry and embarrassed, Rogers and Edwards went home to jam and wound up writing their number one “Le Freak.”

Unsurprisingly, Jones was always super-far ahead of the curve when it came to gender identity. In 1984 she told Interview magazine, “The future is no sex.” She added, “You can be a boy, a girl, whatever you want. I have a lot of man in me.” She was already questioning the labels society put on gender nearly four decades ago.

Take this one with a pinch of salt, as it’s never really been confirmed. According to Hollywood scuttlebutt, Arnie complained about Jones when she co-starred with him in 1984’s Conan the Destroyer. His problem? She was “too tough.” Even if the Austrian Oak was feeling intimidated, though, it can’t have affected him too negatively – he still invited Jones to his wedding in ’86, after all. Speaking of which…

Jones and legendary artist Andy Warhol arrived unfashionably late to Schwarzenegger’s wedding to Maria Shriver in 1986. In her memoir, Jones wrote, “At the exact moment that Arnold and Maria are on their knees finishing their special, intimate ceremony, we arrive. The doors noisily crack open, and they turn around to see what the commotion is, and it is, guess who, Grace and Andy.” Arnie wasn’t amused.

With hindsight, this moment in Andy Warhol’s is one he was probably rather fond of. He was, after all, barely a lad when his life got complicated. He was originally "Andrew Warhola," but he didn't drop the "a" to be artsy. "Warhola" was, in fact, an Americanized version of the Slovakian name "Varkhola," which his parents changed when they emigrated to the United States from Slovakia. Andy was born in 1929 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he developed a life-changing condition.

Young Andy was diagnosed with Sydenham’s chorea, also known as “St. Vitus’s Dance.” This made his body shake at random, like an impromptu dance... and you can imagine how the schoolkids bullied and mocked him. Andy's anxiety about his sickness bloomed into hypochondria, which would come back to haunt him later in life. To combat his fears of loosing control, Andy got creative.

Despite his ailments, Andy wanted nothing more than to enter the creative world. He was thrilled when he got his first commission job at Glamour magazine drawing concept photos for high-fashion shoes. As photographer John Coplan once said, “Nobody drew shoes the way Andy did. He somehow gave each shoe a temperament of its own, a sort of sly, Toulouse-Lautrec kind of sophistication." Working in shoes taught Andy an art medium he'd come to be iconic for.

While working in shoes, Andy learned silk-screen printing, and he became obsessed with it. He printed everything from cartoons, to household objects, to famous figures like Marilyn Monroe — and it launched him into the spotlight. His "pop art" paintings were first hung as window displays for New York's Bonwit Teller Department Store in April 1961. However, some of his most famous work is padded with controversy.

Gallery owner, Muriel Latow, was the one who invented the idea for Andy's million-dollar Campbell's Soup painting. And yet, Andy only paid her $50 for the concept. It was one of the first perceived "anti-feminist" moves that would later come back to haunt him. During his first exhibition, Andy claimed to love eating Campbell's soup for lunch, and the art world ate that up: a large print of the can sold for over $7 million! This wasn't the only incident that raised eyebrows.

Recognize this painting? In 1967, this famous banana was featured on The Velvet Underground's very first album, which Andy supposedly produced. However, many now believe Andy simply funded the studio session to brag about being a "producer." With his wealth and fame mounting, Andy's work began to get...experimental.

As a prominent pop-culture icon, Andy spent a lot of time partying, and after a few too many, he and his friends decided to try a different type of art medium. They lined up copper-painted canvases on the floor and proceeded to pee all over them, causing the paint to oxidize. In 2008, one of these paintings sold for a whopping $1,889,000! Partying was Andy's forte, leading him to open his infamous gathering spot, which would also serve as the scene of a future crime.

To contribute to New York's growing party scene, Andy established the "Factory" in 1962. According to attendees, the establishment was absolute mayhem. Drugs, art, and intellectual musings were a guarantee. The parties got so crazy, the Factory's location had to be moved several times. "Walk on the Wild Side" by Lou Reed refers to the Factory's bizarre guests and underground influence. It was at these parties that rumors about Andy's sexuality began to spread.

Andy was very open about being gay, yet claimed he was a virgin. But partygoers weren't convinced: they were aware of his many love affairs. When Andy was hospitalized for contracting condylomata, the media couldn't stop talking about it. On top of that, Andy's submissions for Fine Art galleries often included homoerotic work, which were rejected at the time. Given his sexuality, Andy's belief system was shocking.

Privately, Andy was a devout Catholic. He attended mass daily, volunteered at church, worked at homeless shelters, and helped pay for his nephew's priesthood studies. While these charitable acts made Andy proud, he never shared his religious practices with the public, hiding his face and sitting in the back during masses. Once on the town, however, a whole new side of Andy came out.

Andy was a gigantic influence on the New York City drag scene of the 1960's. His parties provided a safe space for gender expression and performance, creating an iconic counter-culture. Andy dressed up in drag himself, going by the name "Drella," which was a combo of Dracula and Cinderella. This was mostly in show of support for his guests, but one aspect of drag inspired his biggest collection ever.

Andy had a wig collection that totaled over 40 hairpieces. Each was handcrafted in Italy by the best-of-the-best. Every day, Andy would pick a wig to go with his outfit and flaunt his varied looks at parties. He even wore the wigs to the salon to receive haircuts. Once, a girl removed his wig during a playful incident, and Andy was outraged. He later said, "I don't know what held me back from pushing her over the balcony.” Wigs weren't the only possession Andy was obsessed with.

As his career kept growing, so did Andy's possessions. His deep pockets enabled him to shop at an alarming rate, and he turned into a hoarder. While a majority of his collections were on display, his private collections stayed secret until after his death, when 641 boxes of his belongings were discovered. "Andy's Stuff" sold for over $20 million to the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh — and the boxes' contents were truly shocking.

The boxes contained everything from random airplane menus to 19th century paintings. Whatever Andy felt a connection to, he hid away in his private collection. This even included a mummified human foot from Ancient Egypt! Sotheby's took over a week to auction everything off, but one pile of documents had to be reviewed by the government.

Among Andy's many leftover possessions were piles and piles of unpaid invoices. He was so bad at paying his dues that the IRS audited him every single year from 1972-1987. Thankfully, his estate was able to pay off all his remaining debts after his death. A few years prior to these audits, Andy came face-to-face with a life or death situation.

One of Andy's curators was a woman named Valerie Solanas, the radical feminist who wrote the SCUM ManifestoI. In the book, Valerie claimed that women should, "overthrow the government, eliminate the money system, institute complete automation and eliminate the male sex." She met Andy in the mid-1960's when she asked him to produce one of her plays. After giving him the script, there was an accident that made Valerie suspicious.

Andy claimed to have misplaced Valerie's script, but she wasn't convinced. To make it up to her, Andy offered her a role in a play, paying her only $25. Shortly after, press owner Maurice Gerodias offered to purchase Valerie's work while maintaining complete ownership over it. Convinced that Andy and Maurice were in cahoots, Valerie decided to take gruesome measures.

Valerie, who believed men like Andy were responsible for her suppression, purchased a gun and showed up to the Factory on June 3rd, 1968. She shot at Andy three times, missing twice and hitting his abdomen another time. He was rushed to the hospital immediately, but they didn't have good news.

According to The Washington Post, the bullet had hit Andy's "stomach, liver, spleen, esophagus, and both lungs." He literally lost his heartbeat, forcing doctors to perform open-heart surgery. They cut into his chest and began to physically massage his heart. Miraculously, they were able to revive him, but not without serious repercussions.

Due to his childhood disease, Andy was a hypochondriac throughout his life. He survived almost 20 years after the shooting, but his heart continued to suffer from the attack. His fear to seek treatment led to his death on February 22, 1987, when he was only 58 years old. His foundation continues to be one of the largest contributor to visual arts education in the United States — and it feels like he's still around, as he made an eerie prediction before he died.