David Bowie's wife "expected" him to tell her about his affairs.
Angie and David Bowie had an open marriage
The late 'Ziggy Stardust' rocker was married to Angie Bowie from 1970 to 1980 but they had an "open" relationship and were frank with one another about the other people they were sleeping with outside of their union.
Hairstylist Suzi Ronson - who went on to marry Bowie's guitarist Mick Ronson - recalled how she discovered they had an "open marriage" when she went to the couple's home to do Angie's hair.
In her new book 'Me and Mr Jones: My Life with David Bowie and the Spiders from Mars' - serialised in the Sunday Times newspaper - she wrote: "The more time I spent with them both, the more I learnt about David and Angie’s relationship. One afternoon I went round to do Angie’s hair ahead of a special date — with Mickey Finn, a percussionist for T. Rex. She greeted me in her dressing gown then slipped off the robe, got into the bath and continued chatting. 'It’s OK,' she said, 'David knows all about Mickey. We have an open marriage; we both have fun. Life is too boring to be with just one person.' "
Shortly afterwards, Suzi herself went on a date with David - and was stunned when he told her he'd be telling Angie all about their night together.
She wrote: "Not long afterwards, I witnessed the other side of this unconventional arrangement, when David asked if I could come over and do his hair. He greeted me with a big grin, holding my shoulders as he kissed me on both cheeks.
'You look nice,' he said, and I asked where Angie was. 'Oh, she’s off being her usual fabulous self', he laughed. 'I don’t really want my hair cut. I wanted to see you. Let’s go up to town and have dinner.'... Before I knew it his arm was around my waist and we were on our way to London....
"On the way back I thought about what was coming up. I wanted a job with him far more than a night in bed, but leaving gracefully felt complicated. We pulled into the driveway and he turned to me. 'Well, Suzi, are you coming in?'
"I could have gone home, but part of me was curious. I wasn’t that attracted to him, but as he held my eyes the distance between us closed and suddenly he was kissing me. It was a rush and before I knew what I was doing I was in his bedroom. I let my inhibitions go as he undressed me.
"When it was over he said he’d have fun telling Angie all about it. I froze. 'She’ll understand,' he said, seeing my reaction. 'She expects it — we have an understanding. It’d be worse if I didn’t tell her.'
"He seemed a little impatient with me now, and a bit amused. 'Don’t be silly. I thought you understood.'
If I was going to take part in this new world with its new permissive trends, I had to squash my grey suburban ideas and embrace it."
Days later, Suzi spoke to Angie and was relieved when there was no discussion about her date with the 'Suffragette City' hitmaker.
She added: "A couple of days went by before Angie called to talk about the next gig. She didn’t say a word about my night with David. I was grateful. I didn’t want to come on like a groupie; I wanted a full-time job."
Tagged in David Bowie Angie Bowie