“Andy Warhol scolded me when he thought I was going too far”

Madame Figaro .– Without dividing begins with an exchange you had at the age of 21 with Andy Warhol. He told you to start writing your diary. Is that where the desire to write these memoirs came from?
Diane de Beauvau-Craon.– To be honest, my first reaction to hearing Andy was surprise. Even though I seemed to have lived quite a bit already, I was still very young. I was terrified, as if he suddenly made me aware of my inscription in time. And when the publisher Christophe Bataille, at Grasset, offered me, I wouldn’t say to write, but to tell the things I had experienced – I know how to tell, but I’m not sure I know how to write – the first person I thought of was Andy. What a visionary! I burst out laughing… I devoted four years to this book, and I took great pleasure in bringing to life all these people who, like Andy, mattered to me.

How would you describe your relationship with him?
We met at a dinner hosted in my honor by Roy Halston, a great designer who was also a great lover of design in general and, therefore, a friend of Andy’s. That’s when the seed of our friendship was planted. We saw each other a lot. I didn’t go to the Factory so much, which was a workplace, with a lot of painters – Andy had a whole team he was in charge of. I often accompanied her to charity evenings. He would pick me up or I would pick him up. I wanted to see it all, do it all, know it all, experience it all, and over time Andy’s attitude became protective. He scolded me when he thought I was going too far: I was entitled to lightning shouting matches when he discovered that I had been out three days in a row until three in the morning or that I had taken too much cocaine…

I wanted to see it all, do it all, know it all, experience it all, and over time Andy’s attitude became protective.

Diana of Beauvau-Craon

A memory of that time?
We were going to a party, and it was at a time when I had decided that dressing in a house painter’s jacket was the latest fashion. Andy told me he was coming with a friend, who turned out to be Robert Rauschenberg – he liked to surprise me like that. When he saw my outfit, Andy looked at me, flabbergasted. I refused to change – I was quite stubborn – and he then said, “We’re going to have to fix this.” He always had a box of pastels with him. He got in front of me, told Robert Rauschenberg to get behind, and everyone started painting one side of the jacket before signing it. I found myself with a work by Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg on my back… which I lost no time in going to dance at Studio 54. But that’s irrelevant: it lives in my memory…

Andy Warhol also devoted an issue of the magazine to you Interview which was an opportunity for you to meet Robert Mapplethorpe…
The cover was done by now-famous photographer Christopher Makos, and the issue featured an interview with me and photos of Robert Mapplethorpe, including the one in the headband of Without dividing… When I met Robert, his talent was recognized only by a small circle of artists. He was doing underground photos and just starting portraits. He was a shy and reserved person who was bored to death by parties and society events. We fell in love right away, and later even lived together for three months. I had a tomboy side, very childish and daredevil, to which Robert was sensitive.

Doesn’t having frequented the entire arty scene of New York seem extraordinary to you?
Yes, of course. I think it’s my naivety and my freshness that allowed me to become close to all these artists. They saw that I loved them sincerely, without a second thought. Even if, initially, it was my name that facilitated relations. In the 1970s, European titled families were popular in the United States. As the daughter of Marc Charles-Louis de Beauvau-Craon, seventh Prince of Beauvau-Craon, and granddaughter of Anténor Patiño, who at the time was called the “king of tin”, I was rolled out the red carpet. It was during a ball given in Mexico by my father that I met Roy Halston for the first time. The more the evening progressed, the more he was surprised by my attitude: while everyone behaved extremely well, the daughter of his host was swaying like crazy while dancing…

What did New York represent for who you were?
The possibility of being away from my family. I had nothing against her, I even had an adoration for my father and for my Italian grandmother, but it was a heavy family with which I was in conflict. New York relieved me of the weight of the idea that I was going to hurt my father. Its architecture immediately fascinated me. And it was a city that felt like anything was possible. It was enough to want it very strongly, and possibly to work there… I love America enormously, even if the current America is no longer the one I knew. In New York, everything was allowed, and at the same time, it only took three hours by train to reach a hometown of absolute puritanism, and I liked this clash. New York gave me the impression of being at home, in my place. I was not judged there. Whereas in Paris, because of my family, they were watching my every step.

Without dividingby Diane de Beauvau-Craon, Editions Grasset, 320 p., €22.