--- title: Andy Warhol and Valerie Solanas: Why She Shot Him description: June 3, 1968: Valerie Solanas, the author of the SCUM Manifesto, attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol canonical: https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/ author: Jennifer Latson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-06-03T14:30:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:03:17.115Z article:section: History og:title: Andy Warhol and Valerie Solanas: Why She Shot Him og:description: June 3, 1968: Valerie Solanas attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol og:url: https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0cb6a99a29fdb7/6988523035ba6f1084c0d7c7/solanas.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: solanas og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Andy Warhol and Valerie Solanas: Why She Shot Him twitter:description: June 3, 1968: Valerie Solanas attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0cb6a99a29fdb7/6988523035ba6f1084c0d7c7/solanas.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Is Why a Radical Playwright Shot Andy Warhol ## Video: High Art's High Price: Museums Can't Afford It [Watch (HLS stream): High Art's High Price: Museums Can't Afford It](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BR0tUoUi.m3u8) (2:31)  _Published 2013-11-15. The ultra-wealthy are snatching up prized works of art by 20th century masters. Many of these pieces, however, won't be seen again by the general public._ by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Jun 3, 2015 2:30 PM UTC  Detective Frederick Stepat and policewoman McCarthy escort Valeria Solanas, 28, into 13th precinct, for the shooting of Andy Warhol, on June 3, 1968, in New York City Detective Frederick Stepat and policewoman McCarthy escort Valeria Solanas, 28, into 13th precinct, for the shooting of Andy Warhol, on June 3, 1968, in New York CityFrank Russo—NY Daily News Archive / Getty Images by [Jennifer Latson](https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/) ## Jennifer Latson Jun 3, 2015 2:30 PM UTC Andy Warhol might have made a career out of “photographing depravity and calling it truth,” according to [TIME’s 1968 assessment](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,900118,00.html), but even he had his limits — and Valerie Solanas’ brand of depravity was too far out even for this “blond guru of a nightmare world.” Solanas, a writer and women’s rights activist, pushed feminism to radical new heights in 1967, when she founded the Society for Cutting Up Men (she was its only member) and self-published the _SCUM Manifesto_, which begins: --- > “” --- She’d crossed paths with Warhol two years earlier, badgering him to produce [a play she had written](http://www.villagevoice.com/2000-01-11/news/solanas-lost-and-found/). He passed, later saying that he had skimmed the satirical and highly scatological script and found it so obscene that he “suspected Ms. Solanas was working for the police on ‘some kind of entrapment,’” [per the New York _Times_.](http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/a-manuscript-a-confrontation-a-shooting/) Solanas occupied a place so far on the fringes of the avant-garde scene at Warhol’s Factory that the pair probably wouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath today — except that she forced herself into the historical record on this day, June 3, in 1968, when she shot and critically wounded Warhol, apparently outraged by his rejection and the fact that he had lost his copy of her play. ### Andy's World: Rare Photographs From Warhol's Own Camera  Bianca Jagger, 1979 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  John Lennon and Victor Hugo Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Martha Graham, 1979 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Bruce Springsteen Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Fran Lebowitz and Karl Lagerfeld, 1984 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Jay Shriver, 1982 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Valentino, 1973 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Liberace Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Bob Colacello, 1977 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Jean-Michel Basquiat in Bed Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Andy Warhol Self Portrait in Drag, 1981 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Truman Capote with Cake Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Andre Leon Talley, 1984 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Jed Johnson, 1973 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  John Gould in Sea, 1982 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Keith Haring and Juan 2 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Jed Johnson in Bathtub, 1980 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  O.J. Simpson, 1977 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Couple with Balloons, Plaza Hotel, New York City Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges  Mick Jagger, 1977 Andy Warhol—Courtesy of Jim Hedges The shooting brought Solanas the attention she craved, although mainstream feminist organizations, [including the National Organization for Women](http://www.out.com/entertainment/art-books/2014/03/28/valerie-solanas-woman-wrote-scum-shot-andy-warhol), distanced themselves and disavowed her agenda. Solanas pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to three years in prison after being found [competent to stand trial](http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9B0DE3D6123AEE34BC4852DFB0668382679EDE). She was later diagnosed with schizophrenia. Warhol, meanwhile, spent two months in the hospital recuperating from surgeries to repair his damaged lungs, esophagus, spleen, liver and stomach, and in some ways he never fully recovered. His injuries were so severe that he had to wear a surgical corset for the rest of his life, [according to the Andy Warhol Museum](http://www.warhol.org/collection/aboutandy/andyfaq/). The mental anguish lingered as well. “Since I was shot, everything is such a dream to me. I don’t know what anything is about,” [he told the New York _Times_](http://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1968/11/10/298955762.html?pageNumber=387) near the end of 1968\. “Like I don’t even know whether or not I’m really alive or—whether I died. It’s sad.” His experience left him so afraid of hospitals that he refused surgery after being diagnosed with a gallstone in 1973, [his doctor told the _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/06/nyregion/treatment-of-warhol-is-defended.html). “He was convinced if he was hospitalized, he would die,” the doctor said. Unable to put off treatment after his gallbladder became infected, he finally underwent surgery on Feb. 21, 1987\. He died the next day, of a heart attack. **_Read more about the shooting, from 1968, here in the TIME archives_**: [Felled by Scum](http://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,900118,00.html) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/"},"headline":"This Is Why a Radical Playwright Shot Andy Warhol","datePublished":"2015-06-03T14:30:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:03:17.115Z","description":"June 3, 1968: Valerie Solanas, the author of the SCUM Manifesto, attempts to assassinate Andy Warhol","url":"https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/","keywords":["Crime","Art"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0cb6a99a29fdb7/6988523035ba6f1084c0d7c7/solanas.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jennifer Latson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jennifer-latson/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c0cb6a99a29fdb7/6988523035ba6f1084c0d7c7/solanas.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"solanas","caption":"Detective Frederick Stepat and policewoman McCarthy escort Valeria Solanas, 28, into 13th precinct, for the shooting of Andy Warhol, on June 3, 1968, in New York City","creditText":"Frank Russo—NY Daily News Archive / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/","name":"This Is Why a Radical Playwright Shot Andy Warhol"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"High Art's High Price: Museums Can't Afford It","description":"The ultra-wealthy are snatching up prized works of art by 20th century masters. Many of these pieces, however, won't be seen again by the general public.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BR0tUoUi/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2013-11-15T15:40:57.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BR0tUoUi.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/","duration":"PT2M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3901488/andy-warhol-valerie-solanas/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```