Died of pneumonia in a welfare hotel.
Founder of "SCUM" (Society for Cutting Up Men)
Is portrayed by Lili Taylor in I Shot Andy Warhol (1996)
Sentenced to New York's Matteawan State Hospital for shooting Andy Warhol. After being released, she was often homeless.
She stated that she had shot Andy Warhol and in way of explanation offered, "He had too much control of my life."
She was buried in Virginia, near the home of her mother.
She was interviewed on Alan Burke's TV talk show; when she refused to censor herself, he walked off the set. The interview was never aired.
She was released on September 1971 from the New York State Prison for Women at Bedford Hills; but was arrested again November 1971 for threatening letters and calls to various people, including Andy Warhol. In 1973 she was in and out of mental institutions; and spent eight months in South Florida State Hospital in 1975.
Valerie, released on bail after shooting Andy Warhol, called the Factory (Warhol's studio) on Christmas Day in 1968. Andy answered the phone. She wished him a Merry Christmas and threatened to shoot him again if he didn't meet her demands which include her appearance on the Johnny Carson show, publication of the SCUM Manifesto in the Daily News and $25,000 in cash. She was locked away again, with her bail raised to $50,000 and then to $100,000. She was declared incompetent to stand trial and later pleaded guilty to first-degree assault and was sentenced to three years, one of which she had already served while awaiting trial.