Random Fascinating Stories From Janis Joplin's Personal Life (14 items)

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  (#1) She Was Arrested For Shoplifting

  Celebrities sometimes hit rock bottom before making it big, and Joplin is a perfect example. After dropping out of school and moving to San Francisco in 1963, she was arrested for shoplifting. She'd only lived there for something like two months.

  Before she got caught, Joplin made a habit of snagging baskets of damaged produce from the back alleys behind shops. She did whatever was necessary to keep going, and her drug habit further motivated her.
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  (#2) Joplin Dated A Black Woman She Met In A San Francisco Gay Bar

  The first time Joplin moved to San Francisco in 1963, she found herself in a gay bar playing pool. There she met musician Jae Whitaker, an African American woman. The two hit it off and swiftly became lovers. Joplin and Whitaker ultimately moved in together, and not just as roommates.

  But their relationship didn't last long. Joplin continued to sleep with other people, and Whitaker couldn't handle Joplin's hard drug use. They eventually drifted apart.
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  (#3) Joplin Almost Married A Guy Who Was Cheating On Her

  In 1965, Joplin got engaged to a guy named Peter de Blanc. Joplin's sister, Laura, described him as "rich, intelligent, gentle, charismatic, and a meth enthusiast." After de Blanc's drug use led to a 12-day hospital stay, he and Joplin made plans to get clean - and get married.

  But after Joplin's father gave them his blessing, while Joplin was staying with her parents to recover, de Blanc found a new girlfriend in New Orleans before moving to New York to work for IBM. When Joplin called, and de Blanc's new girlfriend answered, she would pretend to be his cousin.

  Joplin eventually realized her supposed wedding with de Blanc would never happen, and she too started sleeping with other people again.
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  (#4) Joplin's Relationship With Country Joe Inspired Him

  During the 1967 Summer of Love, Joplin had an intimate relationship with singer Country Joe. Joe has since claimed that even though their relationship didn't exactly "sizzle," Joplin inspired him with her work ethic and the way she made music. They were good friends, even if he didn't believe they were compatible as lovers.

  They spent a great deal of time working together, and even decades after her death, Joe says he misses her more than most people.
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  (#5) She Hooked Up With Leonard Cohen After Flirting With Him In An Elevator

  In 1968, singer-songwriter Leonard Cohen was living out of hotels. On one particular evening, he was riding the elevator at the Chelsea Hotel and happened to strike up a conversation with Joplin, who was also staying there.

  Cohen asked if she was looking for anybody, and she said she was looking for Kris Kristofferson. Cohen said he actually was Kristofferson, and even though she almost definitely knew he was lying or kidding, they still spent the night together.
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  (#6) One Of Joplin's Producers Once Walked In On Her At A Sex Party

  Although few people believed Joplin was a "committed" lesbian, she didn't place many boundaries on her experiences. In 1969, record producer Milan Melvin walked into Joplin's room to find an all-female party. When Joplin saw Melvin, she looked at him and said, "This is my life now."

  To some, that might imply Joplin was decidedly a lesbian, but Melvin saw it as something different. He claimed she was "supersexual" and transcended typical labels.
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  (#7) Kris Kristofferson And Joplin Had A Brief Fling

  Just as the now-famous singer-songwriter and actor Kris Kristofferson's career was taking off, he ran into Joplin during the summer of 1970. Kristofferson ended up living in Joplin's house for several weeks as part of a massive, raging party she was throwing.

  Every time he'd try to leave, she'd offer him more alcohol, making him less willing to do anything but hang out and party. They became smitten with each other, though how serious their relationship was is unclear.

  Their affair wasn't long, but in some ways, it seemed similar to the song "Me and Bobby McGee," which Kristofferson wrote, and Joplin made famous. Joplin died not too long after the two met.
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  (#8) Peggy Caserta Doesn't Think Joplin Overdosed

  It's a little hard to believe, and it's tough to substantiate with any evidence, but Peggy Caserta - one of Joplin's lovers - doesn't believe a heroin overdose caused Joplin's death. Caserta understands Joplin had heroin in her system when she died in 1970, but she doesn't think that was the actual cause. According to Caserta, Joplin died because she tripped.

  Caserta believes Joplin slipped on a shag carpet and fell face-first into the nightstand, breaking her nose. It knocked her out and caused blood to fill up her throat, asphyxiating her. This is not what the police determined, but Caserta did see the crime scene, and she didn't think Joplin looked like a woman who had overdosed on heroin.
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  (#9) Joplin Almost Inadvertently Killed Caserta By Leaving Heroin With Her

  Joplin is quoted as saying she'd prefer to live crazy and fast for 10 years than to die at age 70 safely in her chair watching TV, but even she realized her drug habit wasn't sustainable. When Joplin left for a carnival gig in Rio de Janeiro in 1970, she decided to leave her vast stash at home in the care of Peggy Caserta.

  Caserta wasn't exactly the best caretaker, and she ended up trying a bunch of the substances on her own. It almost ended her life.
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  (#10) Her Heroin Addiction Drove Away Her Alleged 'Lost Love'

  While in Brazil in 1970, Joplin met a man named David Niehaus. He was an American teacher who gave up his job so he could backpack around the world. He didn't know who Joplin was; he just liked hanging out with her.

  Even upon their return to the United States, their relationship was unique for Joplin because Niehaus truly cared about her and wasn't caught up in her status as a rock star.

  Their relationship eventually ended when Niehaus couldn't handle Joplin's love for hard drugs. Joplin reportedly referred to him as the one that got away and hoped he'd return once she got clean. She never did.
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  (#11) She Almost Married A Drug Dealer

  Joplin never did fully settle down, but near the end of her life in 1970, she flirted with the idea of committing. A few months before her death, she even told a Rolling Stone reporter she was considering getting married, presumably to Seth Morgan, a man she'd been seeing for a few months. They'd even gone so far as to get engaged.

  But Morgan wasn't the kind of guy you'd bring home to meet your parents. He met Joplin while selling her cocaine. Morgan later went on to become a novelist, but only published a single book before he died in a 1990 motorcycle accident while high and extremely intoxicated.
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  (#12) Her Handbag's Contents Were Unusual

  Many women's handbags contain things they may need throughout the day. It's usually essential things like makeup, lip balm, pens, chewing gum... Joplin's handbag was nothing like that.

  A few months before Joplin's death in 1970, a Rolling Stone reporter took a look inside the rocker's personal handbag and found a treasure trove of items: several room keys, an antique cigarette holder, a hip flask, two music cassettes, a corkscrew, an alarm clock, guitar picks, a copy of Time magazine, and two huge books. She was ready for anything.
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  (#13) One Of Joplin's Closest Friends Wrote A Movie Contract Specifying Their Relationship Could Not Appear Homosexual

  Even though Joplin was known to have sexual relations with women, one of her closest female friends, Myra Friedman, wanted to ensure she was never portrayed as homosexual herself. In 1973, Friedman wrote a biography about Joplin's life titled Buried Alive, which she believed should be turned into a movie.

  The book was never officially made into a film, though it was optioned several times. In one film contract, Friedman added a clause refusing to allow herself to be portrayed as a lesbian. She claims she didn't have a sexual relationship with Joplin, but her preemptive refusal of such a depiction is unusual.
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  (#14) Caserta Helped Write A Tell-All Book She Later Regretted

  Joplin and Caserta were good friends and had something of a romantic relationship through the years, but that doesn't mean Caserta's book about their time together was entirely truthful. After Joplin's death, Caserta released a book shockingly titled Going Down With Janis in 1980, which claimed to be "a raw and scathing portrait of Janis Joplin by her female lover."

  Though some elements of the biography might be true, Caserta has almost entirely disowned the book. She claims she didn't write it - she just tried to sell her access and story for drug money. Caserta says she's sorry she ever did it, but that she also recognizes addicts do terrible things sometimes.

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