Born Peggy Anne Freeman in Detroit, Michigan to an abusive father who was allegedly killed at the hands of her own mother when Peggy was 18, this, perhaps, is the reason she created a new identity and assumed the name Donyale Luna.

Despite her birth records, the eccentric beauty who occasionally donned bright, blue (sometimes green) contact lenses and a blond wig, proved ambiguous and didn’t make it easy for the media when she was questioned about her ethnicity. In a 1968 New York Times  article, journalist Judy Stone wrote the model was “secretive, mysterious, contradictory, evasive, mercurial, and insistent upon her multiracial lineage–exotic, chameleon strands of Mexican, American Indian, Chinese, Irish, and last but least escapable, Negro.” Regardless of Luna’s obvious black physicalities, she was uncomfortable when described in the media as black or Negro. When Stone asked her whether her appearance in Hollywood films would benefit the cause of black actresses, Luna responded, “if it brings about more jobs for Mexicans, Chinese, Indians, Negroes, groovy. It could be good, it could be bad. I couldn’t care less.”

Although encouraged to go into nursing by her mother–a nurse herself–Luna moved to New York after being discovered by photographer David McCabe. In March 1966, she became the first African American model to make the cover of a Vogue magazine–albeit, she conceals most of her face, allegedly at the request of magazine editors, to camouflage her true ethnicity– just months after appearing on the cover of Harper’s Bazaar. Time Magazine followed up, publishing “The Luna Years.” In the article, the writer described the rail thin, 6’2,” statuesque model as “a heavenly body who, because of her striking singularity, promises to remain on high for many a season. Donyale Luna, as she calls herself, is unquestionably the hottest model in Europe at the moment.”

Luna’s increasing popularity was evident when she was immortalized in mannequin form–created by mannequin maker Adel Roostein. Soon after, movie role offers poured in, which led into a successful acting career throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, appearing in several Andy Warhol films and an appearance in the Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus.

More notorious than the model and actress’ career were here tumultuous relationships with white men. Involved with an Austrian actor, a Danish photographer, and a short-lived marriage to a self-proclaimed gigolo, her last relationship was with Italian photographer, Luigi Cazzaniga, who photographed her for Playboy in 1975. She and Cazzaniga had a daughter named Dream in 1977.

Perhaps Luna’s longest lasting relationship (and prelude to the demise of her career) was the one she had with drugs, particularly LSD. “I think [LSD] is great,” she said in a late 1960s interview. “I learned that I like to live, I like to make love, I really love somebody, I love flowers, I love the sky, I like the bright colors, I like animals.”

Beverly Johnson, who grew into prominence just as Luna’s career was dwindling, was quoted as saying “[Luna] doesn’t wear shoes winter or summer. Ask her where she’s from–Mars? She went up and down the runways on her hands and knees. She didn’t show up for bookings. She didn’t have a hard time. She made it hard for herself.”

Sadly, Luna died of a drug overdose at the early age of 34 at a clinic in Rome, Italy.

Perhaps more light will be shed on her upon the release of filmmaker Jennifer Poe’s documentary about Luna and Pat Hartley, the only black women to be a part of the Andy Warhol Factory.