Suki Potier

Who was Suki Potier?

Melanie Susan Potier or Poitier, better known as Suki Poitier, was an English model.

She was born to Gilbert and Mary Potier in Surrey. She had an older sister Rosemary Sarah Potier born February 12, 1946. As a teenager, she modeled for all the great English designers, becoming a favorite of Ossie Clark. At the age of 18, Suki was dating Guinness heir Tara Browne, who was separated from his then-wife, Nicky.

On December 18, 1966, Suki was a passenger in Tara's Lotus Elan when he drove through South Kensington at high speed, colliding with a parked lorry and died soon thereafter. Suki was not injured. Purportedly, part of The Beatles song, "A Day in the Life" is based on this incident.

It was this tragedy that led her to Rolling Stones musician Brian Jones. Suki said, "He gave me a shoulder to cry on and he picked up the pieces and made me feel a woman again". The two dated for approximately two years from mid-1967 to early 1969.

Suki moved to a fifteenth-century farmhouse with 27-year-old Brian in the last eight months before his death. The house was once the home of AA Milne, creator of the Winnie the Pooh stories. It was there in the swimming pool that Brian, who had by then left the Rolling Stones, drowned mysteriously. By the time of Brian's untimely death, however, they were no longer a couple.