Jay Johnson

Jay Johnson (born December 30, 1948) is an American business executive and former model. Shortly after arriving in New York City in 1968 with his twin brother, Jed Johnson, Johnson became part of Pop artist Andy Warhol's inner circle at the Factory, where he emerged as one of Warhol's superstars and appeared in the film L'Amour. Johnson built a successful career as a fashion model and was a muse to photographer Robert Mapplethorpe. Following his brother's death in 1996, he became president of Jed Johnson Associates Inc. and later co-founded the textile firm Jed Johnson Home in 2005. He also briefly operated the trendy restaurant Fressen in New York's Meatpacking District.

Life and career

Early life and education Jay Johnson was born in Alexandria, Minnesota on December 30, 1948. They had two older brothers, Craig and Larry, and two younger sisters, Nancy and Susan. Johnson and future Playboy model Barbi Benton were junior high school sweethearts. When they went to collect money their mother had sent them through Western Union, they were offered a job as messengers. Three days later, Jed delivered a telegram to Pop artist Andy Warhol's studio, the Factory, and was offered a job on the spot as a janitor by director Paul Morrissey. Morrissey also promised the brothers parts in the film Lonesome Cowboys (1968), but those plans fell through.

While Warhol was hospitalized following a near-fatal shooting in June 1968, Johnson appeared with his brother as a hippie partygoer in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969). Johnson recalled that when he and Jed first arrived in New York City they "had not yet recognized that they were gay." Johnson appeared alongside Warhol and fellow superstar Candy Darling in the March 1, 1970 issue of Vogue magazine. He was also featured in a photo spread with his brother Jed in the December 1970 edition of After Dark magazine.

Modeling and acting career While modeling in Paris, Johnson lived in a hotel with Corey Tippin, Patti D'Arbanville, and Donna Jordan, all of whom appeared in Warhol's L'Amour (1972), filmed in Paris in the fall of 1970.

In the early 1970s, Johnson was part of fashion illustrator Antonio Lopez's circle and worked as an assistant to designer Giorgio di Sant'Angelo. Mapplethorpe created the painting Untitled (Baby/Jay Johnson) (1972) from a Polaroid of Johnson, which he later enlarged and incorporated into his assemblage Jay Kiss (1973).

In 1973, Johnson began a relationship with Tom Cashin, a 19-year-old model he met in Paris. He and Cashin also helped with repairs at Warhol's Montauk estate, Eothen.

Johnson was feistier than his shy twin and considered the "bad boy" of the duo. He drank heavily and battled cocaine addiction. The brothers were featured together in the June 1986 issue of Vanity Fair. Cashin was also an Irish step dancer and appeared in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas during its Broadway run. Johnson inherited his collection of Warhol paintings and took over his interior design firm, Jed Johnson & Associates. After Johnson retired in 2017, the firm was rebranded as Arthur Dunnam for Jed Johnson Studio, and in 2024 it became Dunnam Zerbini Design.

Johnson later completed a project begun by his brother with textile merchant Mona Perlhagen, opening the fabric showroom Chelsea Editions in fall 1996, which specialized in high-quality, historically accurate embroidered textiles for the design trade. He subsequently sold his share in the business to launch Jed Johnson Home in November 2005, offering luxury textiles for interior design clients worldwide. Cashin serves as co-director, and together they have continued to develop fabrics and furniture for the collection. The line is now exclusively represented in the showrooms of Holland & Sherry in the United States and England, and has been used by Michael S. Smith in designing the White House Residence during the Barack Obama administration.

In June 1999, Johnson and Ron Teitelbaum, who owned Blanche's Organic Cafes, opened the restaurant Fressen at 421 West 13th Street in Manhattan's Meatpacking District. Named after the Yiddish word roughly meaning to eat ravenously, the restaurant was praised by critics for its organic cuisine and stylish interior, designed by Laura Kirar of Jed Johnson Associates. It closed in December 2001.

Marriage and later years Johnson married Cashin after same-sex marriage became legalized in New York. They reside in New York City and Brookhaven, New York. The couple was featured with their Abyssinian cat, Dylan, in the book Men With Cats: Intimate Portraits of Feline Friendship (2016) by David Williams.

In 2022, Johnson appeared in the Netflix docuseries The Andy Warhol Diaries.