For years, fans have wondered who Mr ‘So Vain’ is in Carly Simon’s hit ’70s breakup song.
So could you believe that Warren Beatty is the star that’s “so vain” he thinks the song is about him?
Beatty has just recently fallen into controversy after he was accused of an alleged historic sexual abuse incident against a child during the ’70s, which he has, at the time of publishing, not addressed publicly. Simon has no connection to this incident. You can read more here.
Nevertheless, after releasing You’re So Vain back in 1972, Carly Simon shot to fame.
And for the 50 years since, (it’s the song’s 50th anniversary this year), she’s been consistently asked who is the man at the centre of the song.
Beatty, now 85, has been the most probable contender, after Simon released a new version of the song a year later, that featured a back-masked whisper.
Fans were sure that the name they heard whispered on the new version was “Warren”.
But over time, Simon hasn’t done much to help her fans with their problem-solving.
In a 1983 interview with The Washington Post she said, “It certainly sounds like it was about Warren Beatty.
“He certainly thought it was about him – he called me and said, ‘Thanks for the song.'”
Then in 2015, Simon admitted the second verse was about Beatty.
“You had me several years ago when I was still quite naïve / Well you said that we made such a pretty pair / And that you would never leave / But you gave away the things you loved and one of them was me,” the verse reads.
The pair were reportedly linked in the early ’70s.
But Simon also told People Magazine, “that doesn’t mean the other two verses are also Warren”.
Later in life, Simon revealed that her No. 1 hit is actually about three men, including Beatty. She hasn’t named the others.
Simon was previously married to James Taylor, and has been linked to Mick Jagger, Kris Kristofferson, Jack Nicholson and Cat Stevens.
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