RIP
Annabella Battistella , AKA Fanne Foxe, the darling of all the strippers at Washington, DC’s Silver Slipper in the early 70’s . It was her l’affaire with Wilbur Mills, the Arkansas democrat and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee that culminated in her midnight dip in the Tidal Basin that eventually ended his political career career and made her a star forever. She morphed from the “ Argentine Bombshell” to the “ Tidal Basin Bombshell” and her weekly fee for stripping rose from $3000 to $15000.
According to Wikipedia she and Mills were one of the top five sex scandals of the 20th century. Mills left the political scene in disgrace.
Annabella retired from stripping shortly after the Mills scandal, changed her name to Annabel Montgomery, and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Tampa in 1995, a master’s degrees in marine science and business administration – both magna cum laude – from the University of South Florida in 2001 and 2004 respectively. She worked as a divemaster for the University of South Florida and participated in underwater filming.
She died at 84 two weeks ago in Florida.