Bill Wyman, a former member of the Rolling Stones, recently faced backlash and had his appearance at a film festival cancelled due to his controversial relationship with a teenage girl in the 1980s.
The Sheffield Doc/Fest, scheduled for June 2019, was set to feature a Q&A session with Wyman and the European premiere of a documentary about him called The Quiet One.
However, following online criticism, the festival organizers decided to cancel both events.
The controversy surrounding Wyman stems from his relationship with Mandy Smith, whom he met in 1984 when she was just 13 years old and he was 47.
Although prosecutors considered pressing charges against Wyman two years later, no action was ultimately taken.
Despite the controversy, Wyman and Smith got married in 1989 when she turned 18.
However, their marriage was short-lived, as they divorced after only two years.
The Quiet One, the documentary that led to the cancellation of Wyman’s appearance at the film festival, explores his life as one of the founding members of the Rolling Stones.
In response to the criticism, the festival organizers expressed gratitude for bringing the issue to their attention and assured the public that they were taking it seriously.
They also announced that all purchased tickets would be refunded.
In 2013, Wyman revealed that he had voluntarily offered to be interviewed by the police in relation to recent celebrity s** scandals, but they declined his offer.
He emphasized his willingness to cooperate and stated that he was completely open about the situation.
Wyman left the Rolling Stones in 1992 but returned to perform at the band’s 50th-anniversary shows at the O2 Arena in London in 2012.
Now at the age of 51 in 2022, Mandy Smith is a former pop singer and model from England.
The alleged relationship between Smith and Wyman began when she was just 13 years old in 1983.
They met at the BPI Awards in 1984, where she attended with her older sister Nicola.
Wyman described his initial impression of Smith in his 1990 autobiography, stating that she “took my breath away” and that she was a woman at the age of thirteen.
However, their relationship only became public when she turned 16, which is the legal age of consent in the UK.
Shortly after their marriage, Smith moved out, and they officially divorced after 23 months.
Smith received a reported settlement of $880,000.
Adding to the complexity of the situation, Wyman’s son from his first marriage, Stephen, married Smith’s mother, Patsy, who was 46 years old at the time.
However, their marriage also ended after two years.
In 1993, Smith married footballer Pat Van Den Hauwe, but their union lasted only two years as well.
In 2001, she briefly got engaged to Vanity Fair model Ian Mosby, with whom she had a son named Max Harrison Mosby.
Although Smith had a brief career as a pop singer and released several singles in the 1980s and 1990s, she did not achieve a UK top 40 hit.
Nevertheless, she had minor successes in various European countries.
In recent years, Smith has chosen to live a more private life.
She relocated to Manchester and, as of 2011, was a single mother running a PR company called Kiss PR, which she co-founded with her sister Nicola.
In 2010, Smith publicly advocated for raising the age of consent in the UK from 16 to 18.
Despite her own experiences, she believed that 16 was still too young and emphasized the importance of preserving one’s childhood.
In conclusion, Bill Wyman’s controversial marriage to Mandy Smith continues to spark debate and criticism.
Despite the controversy, both individuals have moved on with their lives, pursuing different paths and maintaining a degree of privacy.
The cancellation of Wyman’s appearance at the film festival serves as a reminder that public perception and scrutiny can have lasting effects on one’s career and reputation.
