Christine Keeler
| Christine Keeler | |
|---|---|
Appearing on television discussion After Dark in 1988
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| Born |
Christine Margaret Keeler 22 February 1942 Uxbridge, Middlesex, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | Model |
| Known for | Profumo affair |
Christine Margaret Keeler (born 22 February 1942) is an English former model and showgirl. Her meeting at a dance-club with society osteopath Stephen Ward drew her into fashionable circles. At the height of the Cold War, she became sexually involved with a married government minister John Profumo, as well as a Soviet diplomat. A shooting incident between two of her other lovers caused the press to investigate her, revealing that her affairs could be threatening national security. In the House of Commons, Profumo denied any improper conduct, but later admitted that he had lied. This incident discredited the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan in 1963, in what became known as the Profumo affair.
Born in Uxbridge, Middlesex, Keeler's father abandoned the family during World War II. Keeler was brought up by her mother, Julie Payne, and stepfather, Edward Huish, in a house made from two converted railway carriages in the Berkshire village of Wraysbury. In 1951 she was sent to a holiday home in Littlehampton because the school health inspector said that she was suffering from malnutrition. At the age of 15, she found work as a model at a dress shop in London's Soho. At age 17, she gave birth to a son after an affair with an American sergeant from the Air Force base at Laleham. The child was born prematurely on 17 April 1959, and survived just six days.
That summer, Keeler left Wraysbury, staying briefly in Slough with a friend before heading for London. She initially worked as a waitress at a restaurant in Baker Street, where she met Maureen O’Connor, a girl who worked at Murray’s Cabaret Club in Soho. She introduced Keeler to the owner, Percy Murray, who hired her almost immediately as a topless showgirl. At Murray's she met Stephen Ward, an English osteopath and artist. His practice and his art brought considerable social success, and he made many important friends. Soon the two were living together with the outward appearance of being a couple, but according to her, it was a platonic, non-sexual relationship.
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