Peggy Caserta is the one-time best friend and eventual lover of soon-to-be rock icon Janis Joplin. The two spent a lot of time together and even went on trips, having fun and living life to its fullest. Their friendship was rapid and blossomed in the same manner.
She is not just known for her relationship with Janis Joplin, though. In fact, before Janis, Peggy was an entrepreneur and Janis was one of her first customers. This was what boosted their relationship and eventually led to the series of events that ensued and ultimately, the stories of their love life and affairs.
Biography Of Peggy Caserta
Peggy was an only child of her parents and therefore she got all the cute benefits that come with being an only child which included not having anyone to contest for ‘favorite’ position and love for her parents. Peggy was given all she wanted and needed and she was also loved and supported by her parents with whatever she chose to do or be.
She was a Louisiana homecoming queen who at a point in her life, served as a stewardess. She eventually found herself in San Francisco where she set up her boutique which is famous for being a trendsetter and which served the clothing purposes for most bands of the 60s.
Peggy is quite an interesting fellow to follow and here we will be seeing 10 interesting things about her a lot of people did not know.
10 Things About Peggy Caserta You Didn’t Know
1. Peggy Caserta Founded Haight-Ashbury
She was the founder of the trendsetting bell-bottom jeans which she made and sold in her boutique in Mnasidika, San Francisco. This trend was quite famous and mostly welcomed by band groups who were hippie inclined in those days and were comfortable wearing those. Peggy even convinced the Levi Strauss Company to widen the bottom of their dungarees and this promoted her fashion trend.
2. Peggy Caserta’s Sexual Preference
Peggy had always identified as gay/lesbian. She and Janis Joplin were said to be lovers although she admitted to having a lover named Kim as she never saw Janis as gay. She believed Janis was only adventurous and willing to try out new things.
Although she admitted that Janis loved and adored her almost as much as she loved and adored Janis but Janis was straight and not gay. Peggy on the other hand was completely gay and even her mum had accepted that due to this, she may never get married.
Peggy Caserta associates with the gay community and from a very early stage in her life, she realized she was not straight and was mostly drawn to women other than the opposite gender.
3. She Was A Drug Addict
One of the things that cemented Peggy and Janis’ relationship was the fact that both girls were drug users. Although Peggy was only introduced to the use of syringes and needles when she met Janis, she wasn’t a newbie to drug use and abuse. Peggy and Janis together with a couple of other friends and colleagues used to meet up to do drugs occasionally and they all got very addicted to heroin abuse.
Peggy became addicted to using substances because she went through a lot in life at the time; being one of the few brave ones to open up about her sexual preference, she was seen as an outcast and had to live through abusive relationships and even rape.
4. Peggy Went To Jail
Being Janis Joplin’s closest ‘dope-shooting’ pal at the time of her death, it was quite easy to blame Peggy for Janis’ death which occurred on the 4th of October 1970. Peggy admitted that Janis got high in her hotel room the night before she was found dead and that prior to that night, Janis was clean and only resumed drugs after stumbling across Peggy’s dealer in the hotel lobby when she went out to get cigarettes.
However, Peggy noted that it was quite easy for the blame to be put on her because she was the most known ‘shot thrower’ around Janis and the fact that she was gay didn’t do much to help her. Peggy was sentenced to 7 years in jail and this sentence tore her apart.
5. She Published Two Books
Peggy Caserta published two books after the death of her lover, Janis Joplin. The first book was ghostwritten and was titled ‘Going Down With Janis’ while the second came decades after the first and in a bid to clear up the information from the first book which put her in a bad light, she wrote ‘I Ran Into Some Trouble’.
6. Peggy Caserta’s First Book Was Traumatizing
Her first book titled ‘Going Down With Janis did not only reveal that she was indeed a catalyst to Janis’ bad habits but also gave out information that insinuated that she may have been responsible for Janis’ death. This information caused terrible devastation to Peggy, her parents, and her friends. She and her family were trolled and called all sorts of names. She eventually lost friends because of the details in the book and it was not until after years of rehabilitation and healing was able, to tell the truth about how she sold out on that book for drug money and how she hated the book and insists ‘Junkie’ her was responsible for the things written in the book.
READ ALSO: Beau Dermott: 12 Amazing Facts About Her- Did She Cheat?
7. Peggy Went Under The Radar For A While After Janis’ Death
After the death of Janis Joplin, Peggy decided to stay off drug use to be rehabilitated. She became substance-free and had turned a new leaf. However, ghosts from the past would not let her live her life freely and so she went into hiding. At the time, most people believed everything she wrote in her first book and she was not completely happy about it because it was all lies and she couldn’t have done any harm to Janis whom she loved and adored.
Peggy only came back out and opened up about what truly transpired because the media began to bring up some stuff about the incidents.
8. She Insists That Janis Didn’t Die From An Overdose
Upon discovering Janis’ body in her hotel room the morning after she had resumed drug-taking and leaving Peggy’s room, the widely accepted theory was that Janis had overdosed on drugs and that led to her death but Peggy insists that on seeing Janis’ body that morning, an overdose wasn’t the cause of her death.
Peggy strongly believes that Janis died from tripping and hitting her head on the nightstand in the room and she broke her nose. She made a couple of postulations about how Janis’ death must have played out and ruled out an over doze although she admitted that maybe the heroin in her system may not have helped when the blood from her nose backed up in her throat.
9. Peggy Caserta Was A Philanthropist
Peggy Caserta can be said to be a philanthropist because she was known to have helped a couple of people. She paid for stuff for people; she would also finance bands at the time, even got Jimi Hendrix a job and bought an amp for Jerry Garcia. She was indeed a very generous person.
10. Peggy’s Mum Suffered From Alzheimer
Peggy’s mum suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and so Peggy had to return to the bayou to take care of her mum. She left San Francisco and went back to Louisiana to tend to her sick mum because in all Peggy went through, her mum always stood by her and even tried to get her to get off drug use and abuse. Peggy owed her mum the care she was to get as she got old and sick so it wasn’t a big deal for Peggy to return home to her ailing mother who needed her.
