How “generous” Lou Reed helped Andy Warhol retain a private life
When Laurie Anderson met her husband Lou Reed in Munich in 1992, she was surprised that he did not speak with a British accent. After all, The Velvet Underground had such a big fan base in England that Anderson had indeed thought that Reed himself was English.
Discussing her relationship with Reed, Anderson later said: “Anyone who’s been part of a couple will know that it’s not all perfect. But Lou was so generous. He was the most generous person I ever met. And he was a great appreciator of people who demanded a lot of things from them. He really looked for the best in people, and he helped them achieve it.”
Naturally, Reed helped his wife to live her life as he thought she should. Anderson added: “He helped me so much in so many ways. He taught me about writing, about love, about family, about tai chi and power. And the crazy thing is I’m still learning from him. Yes, and through thinking about the meaning of what he said. When somebody’s life is over, you start to realise, ‘Oh, that’s what he was doing!’ He was the most tender person I’ve ever met, and the kindest.”
Reed was one of the most famous people in the world, and as such, he had to create something of a persona in order to keep the whole famous myth of Lou Reed alive. Anderson noted: “People forget that Lou was a writer, that he wrote the Lou Reed part too. It was hilarious. All his friends knew what he was doing.”
She added: “It was fun, sometimes it was useful, and it was cool – but it was writing. He was writing the rock’n’roll part of his life. And when you’re a writer who’s also living out that role, that’s very interesting, a potentially crazy thing. Some writers go mad. They get caught up in the character they created and start thinking they are that person.”
However, Reed did not succumb to the madness of persona. He always knew that he was indeed writing the Lou Reed fable rather than really living it. “Lou was never confused about it,” Anderson said. “Never, not for one second. He knew what he was doing even when people around him got confused. I think Lou helped [Andy] Warhol separate the private person from this iconic thing that was being served up to what they were trying to sell.”
Indeed, like many of the most famous people in the world, both Reed and Warhol sought escape and solace from the public eye, and it was through Reed that Warhol was able to live something resembling a private life. Anderson concluded, “Because it was connected to the commercial world, creating a plausible person who was sexy and crazy and made you want a jacket like he’d wear. And Lou was that in some ways, too.”
