Fanne Foxe

Annabel Battistella (February 14, 1936 – February 10, 2021), known professionally as Fanne Foxe, was an Argentine-American stripper best known for being involved in a 1974 sex scandal surrounding Arkansas Congressman Wilbur Mills. At the time, Mills was the chair of the United States House Committee on Ways and Means and a powerful Democratic politician. The scandal was one of the most reported political sex scandals of the 1970s. In 2009, Foxe was on the Time list of top 10 mistresses, and her affair with Mills was on the Bloomberg list of top 10 U.S. sex scandals.

Early life Annabel Edith Villagra was born on February 14, 1936, in Nueve de Julio, a town southwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina. One of three children, her father was Nueve de Julio's medical officer, and her mother was a nurse. She grew up enjoying basketball, hunting, and folk dancing. She was a premedical student at the University of Buenos Aires, then left at age 20 in 1956 after marrying Eduardo Battistella, a pianist who played in clubs. She then began dancing to accompany his piano-playing act. By the early 1960s, their act took them to Miami, where she began stripping, and Baltimore. At this time, she began using the stage name Fanne Foxe at the behest of her agent.

Foxe emigrated to the United States in 1963 and became a legal resident in 1965. By the late 1960s, she was working in Washington, DC. Although their marriage had collapsed, she allowed her husband to live with her in the Crystal Towers complex in Arlington County, Virginia, because, as she told The Washington Post, "I don't like him to spend money, and he is the father of my children."

The Foxe-Mills scandal was listed as number three in the top 10 U.S. sex scandals by Bloomberg in 2009,

Capitalizing on her notoriety, she was able to increase her appearance fees for performances at clubs. When hired by Michael Pinter Jr. for a December 1974 show at Club Juana in Orlando, Florida, she increased her fee for a two-week stint from $3,500 to $15,000 per week. On December 12, 1974, during the first week of her Orlando engagement, she was arrested for indecent exposure, allegedly after going completely nude during her act. Club owner Pinter was arrested for letting it happen. When arraigned on December 21, both Foxe and Pinter entered innocent pleas to the charges. The charges against both were dismissed on January 28, 1975, when the judge ruled that prosecutors failed to prove their case. After the Florida incident, Foxe announced her retirement from the stage. In September 1976, she was featured in Playboy, and again in February 1977. In April 1977, she was interviewed in depth by Cheri magazine. Also in 1977, she starred in the documentary This Is America.

Filmography Posse from Heaven (1975)