Andy Warhol was one of the most famous artists of the 20th century, and on June 3, 1968, his life nearly ended inside his New York studio, the Factory. He was shot by a woman named Valerie Solanas, a writer who had appeared in one of his films and became known forever for one violent act. Warhol survived, but the shooting left him with lasting physical damage and changed his life forever. So, what happened to Solanas after the attack, and why did she do it?
Before the shooting, she was trying to make a name for herself as a writer in New York. Her best-known work was SCUM Manifesto, which she self-published in 1967, and she also wrote a play called Up Your Ass. Solanas brought that play to Warhol, hoping he might produce it, but she became distraught after Warhol reportedly lost or misplaced the manuscript. Even though she appeared in Warhol’s 1967 film I, a Man, her fixation on the lost manuscript became tied to a broader belief that Warhol and publisher Maurice Girodias were trying to control or steal her work.