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Adapted for the News Of The World (Dec 4th & 11th 1983), from “And I Don’t Want To Live This Life” (published by Corgi).
A childhood of tantrums She was just three months old when she was given her first sedative. The doctor probably thought I was a selfish annoying mother and the drugs would stop my complaining, Unfortunately It only covered up the real problem. As a toddler, Nancy was deeply disturbed. She turned her home into a battleground with her terrifying tantrums. She was four when she saw her first psychiatrist. Raged When she was 11 she attacked me with a hammer because I wouldn’t take her to a museum. "Take me’ or I’ll kill you.” she raged. In her fury Nancy would smash rooms to pieces. At other times she’d just sit and wail: “I want to die.” Her childhood was spent in and out of schools for disturbed children. She was 13 and at one such school when she first tried drugs. BY the time she was 15, the daughter I loved was a heroin addict. Drugs gave her the oblivion she craved. Doctor after doctor stuck his head in the sand. Each one rejected Nancy after a few months and told us: “Take her somewhere else.” It wasn’t until she was 15 that she was diagnosed as schizophrenic. Two Years later we decided we could cope no longer and she would have to leave home. Tragic end to a long ordeal SlD VICIOUS appeared in court charged with murder in November, 1978. He pleaded not guilty—but he too was to die before the court would have the chance to decide. It was just a preliminary hearing and I was dreading the full trial. I knew what would be said about Nancy. They called her Nauseating Nancy. The stories of her murder made it sound like she only got what she deserved — like a rape victim wearing a provocative dress “asks far it.” In life she was regarded as a distasteful celebrity, in death, a freak. No one wanted to know about Nancy’s pain, her sadness, her sensitivity. I wanted to run to the highest roof into scream “Nancy was my baby! No matter what she became, she didn’t deserve to be treated this way” Bullied But I couldn’t fight any more. I ached too much from our tortured life with Nancy. Frank and I were summoned to the District Attorney’s office to meet Allen Sullivan, who would be prosecuting. He treated us like criminals. For two hours he threw questions at us about Nancy, her life-style and our relationship with her. If we didn’t know the answers, he pressed us, bullied us, belittled us.
Meanwhile Sid stayed in the news. In the second week of December he was jailed again for allegedly slashing a man’s face with a broken beer bottle. His former manager Malcolm McLaren, the man who launched the Sex Pistols in Britain, was quoted as saying: “ Sid is hell-bent on living up to his image.” The following February Sid was again out on bail. He celebrated with a party in Greenwich Village on February 1st. About midnight he decided to shoot up some heroin. It was too much and he died in his sleep (Feb. 2nd). He was 21 years old. His death was ruled an accidental overdose. Immediately she heard the news, Sid’s mother rang me. She wanted to know if she could bury Sid next to Nancy. I was too shocked to say anything other than “No.” But with Sid’s death I realised the nightmare was over. There’d be no trial and we’d be left alone. We moved house. I wanted rooms Nancy had never lived in, chairs she’d never sat in. And when we’d done that I could finally cry—uncontrollable torrents of grief for my baby. Since then Frank and I have set up a fund to raise cash for other children addicted to drugs. Its too late for my Nancy, but for the others - and for the parents who blame themselves—there is hope. With my book I wanted to tell them that. Researched and compiled by Phil Singleton. God Save The Sex Pistols ©Phil Singleton / www.sex-pistols.net 2006 All rights reserved. Not to be reproduced without permission. |
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NANCY SPUNGEN
He even asked us If we’d ever been arrested. When we said we hadn’t he made it clear he didn’t believe us.