Life Stories Leibovitz’s career spans four decades, starting when she was just 20 years old life stories Annie Leibovitz Posing with her controversial portrait of a pregnant Demi Moore, taken for Vanity Fair in 1991 Her photos are as iconic as her friends, but the celebrity photographer’s life has been beset by personal and financial loss, says Mandy Appleyard november 2010 MARIE CLAIRE <#R#> Life Stories Leibovitz became the Rolling Stones’ 1975 tour photographer Her iconic portrait of John and Yoko was taken hours before Lennon’s death Leibovitz’s official White House photo of the Obamas I t was an ambitious and lavish shoot, even by Annie Leibovitz’s standards. The Palace of Versailles had been closed to the public so the famed photographer could shoot her glossy magazine cover in privacy. Gilt mirrors and glass chandeliers glistened, and a fabulous pastel-pink carriage was positioned outside the window. Actor Kirsten Dunst and a cast of others were dressed in outrageous pompadour wigs and voluminous satin gowns as they posed for Leibovitz in the now-classic Marie Antoinette shoot. The photographer herself, tossing a mane of long blondegrey hair, energetically paced the floor, ordering her models into different poses. The stylised extravagance of this shoot is the hallmark of Leibovitz’s photography: indulgent depictions of beautiful celebrities, with the occasional crazy prop thrown in. Most of her shots, like this one for the September 2006 US Vogue, have achieved legendary status in their own right. They capture a moment in time or epitomise a whole fashion trend or social movement. They are criticised like artworks or seen as commentaries on celebrity culture, women or society, and replicated again and again. <#L#> MARIE CLAIRE november 2010 It’s likely you’ll be aware of Annie Leibovitz’s work On location even if you don’t in Spain with necessarily know Penélope Cruz her by name. Think for Vogue in 1997 of a naked and heavily pregnant Demi Moore; an unclothed John Lennon curled round an impassive Yoko Ono in a shot taken five hours before he was shot dead; Whoopi Goldberg in a bath of milk; the 15-year-old Miley Cyrus draped in a satin sheet; Tom Cruise, Katie Holmes and baby Suri at their ranch in Colorado. But as well as the gloss and glamour, Leibovitz’s recent years have been beset by tragedy. Her long-time love, author and activist Susan Sontag, died in 2004, followed six weeks later by her beloved father and then her mother barely two years later. Then, last year, it was revealed that, despite being arguably the most highly paid photographer of a generation, she was on the brink of financial ruin, with creditors suing for unpaid bills amid reports that she owed $24 million (about £15.5 million). So when Leibovitz celebrates her 61st birthday on 2 October, it’s fair to assume that it will be a modest affair. Accepting a lifetime achievement award in New York in May last year, her voice quivered as she admitted to the 700-strong audience: ‘I’m having some tough times right now.’ The photographs, of course, are what made Leibovitz, and what will most likely save her. Perfect examples of flamboyant excess, they mirror her colourful personal life (stories abound of lost cameras and cash, unpaid parking tickets, even abandoned rental cars). As her one-time assistant Dan Kellum explains: ‘Annie wanted her life to be like a magazine spread. Everything beautiful.’ Leibovitz’s life never lacked colour. Born Anna-Lou Leibovitz, she grew up one of six children in Connecticut, the daughter of an airforceman and a dancer. After school she did a photography module, sending her first shots to Rolling Stone aged just 20. She was hired immediately and, within three years, was the magazine’s chief photographer. In her 13 years at the title, she photographed the leading lights in American music and culture before moving to Vanity Fair magazine. Summing up her raw talent, energy and enthusiasm, its editor, Graydon Carter, says: ‘Annie will wear you out. She’ll beat you {continued} ‘Annie wanted life to be like a magazine spread. Nothing out of place’ Life Stories Despite her incredible body of work, Leibovitz faced financial ruin in 2009 because she’ll have more patience than you do. And she will eventually get her shot.’ Leibovitz climbed to the top of her game, with a host of celebrity friends and an enviable bank balance. Reports put her salary at $2 million a year (about £1.3 million) and her day rate for advertising work at $100,000 (about £65,000). Her financial ambitions spawned a burgeoning property portfolio: a penthouse in Chelsea; a pied-àterre in Paris. She bought two houses next door to each other in Greenwich Village in 2002 and set about converting them into one house. She also acquired the 200-acre country estate in Rhinebeck, New York, where Chelsea Clinton was recently married. But cracks eventually began to show. One of her building projects in New York was beset with structural problems and resulted in a lawsuit. Then there were accusations of anger issues – Leibovitz gained a reputation for her temper and there were fears of a relapse following a stint in rehab for cocaine addiction. Yet her relationship kept her strong. Leibovitz was ensconced in a partnership with Sontag, 16 years her senior, whom she had met on a photo shoot in the late 80s. Sontag had had a number of high-profile female lovers, but neither she nor Leibovitz referred to themselves as a couple. ‘“Companion” or “partner” were not in our vocabulary,’ Leibovitz says. ‘We were two people who helped each other through our lives.’ But Sontag was ambivalent about Leibovitz’s desire for children. Nevertheless, Leibovitz gave birth to Sarah, in 2001, at the age of 51, reportedly with the help of a sperm donor; she went on to have two more children – twins Susan and Samuelle – with a surrogate. But, despite her joy at being a mother, in 2004 her life began to unravel as she endured the death of the woman she loved from leukemia. ‘Susan didn’t want to die,’ Leibovitz said. ‘She fought this fight… she was so brave.’ By December 2004, Leibovitz was shuttling between her lover’s bedside in New York and her seriously ill father in Florida. Sontag died while Leibovitz was with her father; she had rushed back, but missed that last moment. She photographed Sontag on the hospital trolley, the bruises from an IV visible on her arms. Leibovitz’s father died weeks later; her mother in 2007. ‘We were two people who helped each other through our lives’ <#L#> MARIE CLAIRE november 2010 AT A GLANCE 1949 Born in Connecticut 1970 Hired by Rolling Stone 1983 Joins Vanity Fair 1989 Meets long-term partner Susan Sontag 2001 Gives birth to Sarah; has two more children with surrogate 2004 Sontag dies 2010 Private equity firm bails Leibovitz out of £15.5 million debt The past three years have seen all this compounded by money woes. Leibovitz’s finances deteriorated at an alarming rate, leaving New York columnists speculating over how anyone so successful could be so bad with money. She let millions trickle through her fingertips and was forced to turn to financiers Art Capital for a $24 million (£15.5 million) crisis loan. By last September, Leibovitz was facing legal action for non-payment of the loan; however, in March this year, a private equity firm stepped in to bail her out and manage her assets. Graydon Carter, who has worked with Leibovitz for decades, sees the reason behind her financial crises clearly, however. ‘The mind that can take these extraordinary pictures is not necessarily the same mind that is a perfect money manager,’ he said. Today, as the world’s most famous female photographer stands on the point of financial ruin, her trump card in her fight for financial survival is the images for which she is famous. Nobody will be hoping more than her that they can provide her and her family with a way back from the brink. Photographs by Corbis, Getty Images, Rex, WireImage With daughters Sarah, far right, and Susan in 2006 Leibovitz photographed Susan Sontag in 1989; their relationship lasted until Sontag’s death in 2004
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