As the child of a violent, pedophiliac father and a pill-popping mother, Janice Dickinson grew up hearing her father's "You'll never amount to nothing!" Determined to become a raging success, Dickinson went to New York City and began calling modeling agencies. It was the 1970s, and the ideal models were blonde girl-next-door types like Cheryl Tiegs, but Dickinson was a self described "Polish-mutt niggerlips". She was turned down by Eileen Ford but ended up going to Paris after Lorraine Bracco told her photographer boyfriend that she liked Dickinson's look.
She became a huge success in Europe, and returned to New York City in 1978. It was the era of Studio 54 and Dickinson partied with the likes of Truman Capote, Andy Warhol, and John Belushi. She seduced the most famous ladies' men, drank every drink and snorted or inhaled every drug. While foggy headed, she fell off a catwalk and onto Sophia Loren. Dickinson took revenge on Ford by signing with her agency and then jumping ship to Elite when she became established in the US.
Dickinson is now clean and sober. She is a judge on America's Next Top Model, and a participant on The Surreal Life.
[1] Although Dickinson has maintained in several interviews and her autobiography No Lifeguard on Duty that she was born in 1955, other sources give it as 1953 or 1954. Most details from her life support 1955. Her birthday is also given variously as February 15 and February 17.
Father: Ray Dickinson (career Navy, d. heart attack)
Mother: Jennie Marie Pietrzykoski Dickinson (nurse)
Sister: Alexis Dickinson (real estate agent)
Sister: Debbie Dickinson (model)
Husband: Simon Fields (producer, m. 1987, div. 1993, one son)
Son: Nathan Fields (b. 1987, with Fields)
Boyfriend: Michael Birnbaum (producer, one daughter)
Daughter: Savannah (b. 24-Feb-1993, with Birnbaum)
Husband: Ron Levy (musician, div.)
Husband: Albert Gerston (div.)
Husband: Robert Gerner ("Rocky", pyschiatrist, m. 10-Dec-2016)
Boyfriend: Jon Lovitz
Slept with: Prince Albert II
Slept with: Warren Beatty,
Slept with: John Cusack
Slept with: Grace Jones
Slept with: Sylvester Stallone
Slept with: Kelly LeBrock
Slept with: Dolph Lundgren
Slept with: Liam Neeson
Slept with: Jack Nicholson
Slept with: Bruce Willis
Slept with: Frank Zappa
Slept with: Mick Jagger
High School: Hollywood, FL (1973)
Alcoholics Anonymous
unknown detox facility
Abortion twice
Bankruptcy 2013
Belarusian Ancestry
Polish Ancestry
Risk Factors: Alcoholism, Marijuana, Heroin, Cocaine, LSD, Breast Cancer
TELEVISION
The Surreal Life Herself
FILMOGRAPHY AS ACTOR
Wassup Rockers (12-Sep-2005)
Exposed (22-Apr-1983)
Author of books:
No Lifeguard on Duty: The Accidental Life of the World's First Supermodel (2002, memoir)
Everything about Me Is Fake: And I'm Perfect (2004, memoir)
Check Please! Dating, Mating, and Extricating (2006, self-help)