Grace Jones Drops F Bomb

Local News, By Christian Taylor, 30th June, 2008

When it comes to real diva behaviour, who can compete with Grace Jones? She played a gig in Cairns over the weekend, was paid $200,000 and ended the four song performance by saying to the crowd “Thank you all, fuck you all!” And the audience loved it.

The event was the official launch of the Mission Beach Elandra Resort. According to News.com.au, Jones partied on until the bar ran out of alcohol at 2am. Other celebrities in attendance included designer Peter Morrissey, Charlotte Dawson, Sonia Kruger, Erika Heynatz and Melbourne socialite Lillian Frank.

Grace is 60 years old now, but by all accounts is in tip top shape, with one person in the audience saying that she had the body of a 19 year old.

In true diva fashion Jones arrived at the resort wearing black clothes and a tartan hat. Her face was covered with a scarf. She smoked a cigarette while she waited for her limousine to arrive, telling journalists, “I’m very tired.”

Jones opted not to stay at the resort that she helped launch, due to it being only four and a half stars. Instead she’s staying in a private villa called Altitude One 40. It has its own helipad, views of the Great Barrier Reef and normally costs $15,000 a week to rent. In addition to her own helicopter, she’s asked for a limo to be at her beck and call 24 hours a day.

While she’s had an amazing singing and film career, Jones is also well known for leaving a trail of controversy in her wake. In 1981 she slapped chat show host Russell Harty across the face live on air after he turned away from her to interview other guests. This topped a 2006 BBC poll of the most shocking British TV chat show moments. In 2005 she allegedly verbally abused a Eurostar train manager over a ticket upgrade and was escorted from the train.

One of Grace Jones’ most notorious appearances in Australia was her performance at the 1988 Rat Party at the Hordern Pavillion in Sydney. She was meant to go onstage around midnight, but it ended up being 4am. She refused to perform until promoters could provide written proof that her performance fee had been transferred into her US bank account.

Here’s footage of Grace’s performance on Australia’s Countdown, back in 1982:

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