Famous for 15 Minutes

One of Andy Warhol’s superstars recalls the birth of an art movement—and the death of an icon

In this audacious tell-all memoir, Ultra Violet, born Isabelle Collin Dufresne, relives her years with Andy Warhol at the Factory and all of the madness that accompanied the sometimes-violent delivery of pop art.

Starting with her botched seduction of the “shy, near-blind, bald, gay albino” from Pittsburgh, Ultra Violet installs herself in Warhol’s world, becoming his muse for years to come. But she does more than just inspire; she also watches, listens, and remembers, revealing herself to be an ideal tour guide to the “assembly line for art, sex, drugs, and film” that is the Factory. Famous for 15 Minutes drips with juicy details about celebrities and cultural figures in vignettes filled with surreptitious cocaine spoons, shameless sex, and insights into perhaps the most recognizable but least intimately known artist in the world.

Beyond the legendary artist himself are the throngs of Factory “regulars”—Billy Name, Baby Jane Holzer, Brigid Polk—and the more transient celebrities who make appearances—Bob Dylan, Jane Fonda, Jimi Hendrix, John Lennon.

Delightfully bizarre and always entertaining, filled with colorful scenes and larger-than-life personalities, this dishy page-turner is shot through with the author’s vivid imagery and piercing observations of a cultural idol and his eclectic, voyeuristic, altogether riveting world. 

“Fascinating reading, shocking, graphic, and entertaining.” —Library Journal

“Like the original factory—from 1963 to 1967—as frenzied, grubby, druggy, Byzantine—and absolutely riveting.” —The New York Times Book Review

Ultra Violet (1935–2014), born Isabelle Collin Dufresne, was a French American artist, author, and Andy Warhol superstar. She also worked with Salvador Dalí, among other prominent artists. Violet is the author of the international bestselling memoir Famous for 15 Minutes: My Years with Andy Warhol, which has been published in seventeen languages and was adapted into an opera. She starred in various Warhol films and plays before turning her attention to her own art. Her work has been featured in numerous exhibits and galleries around the world. Violet lived in New York City.