Peggy Caserta, Former Lover of Janis Joplin, Dies at 84

Mar. 15, 2025

Janis Joplin in August 1969.Photo:Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty

Graphic House/Archive Photos/Getty

Peggy Caserta, a former lover of Janis Joplin, has died. She was 84.

Nancy Cleary, her friend and the publisher at Wyatt-MacKenzie, which released her 2018 memoirI Ran Into Some Trouble,confirmed to Deadlinethat Caserta died on Thursday, Nov. 21, of “natural causes at her cabin on the Tillamook River on the Oregon Coast.”

Born on Sept. 12, 1940 outside of New Orleans, Caserta moved around from Louisiana to Mississippi, Alabama to Georgia and Texas. By the mid-1960s, Caserta, who was living openly as a lesbian in San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury community and opened Mnasidika, one of the nation’s first hippie clothing shops. During that time, she dressed the Grateful Dead and met Joplin, who was her neighbor.

Janis Joplin between 1966 and 1970.Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty

Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty

She also alleged the book fueled her drug habit. “I’m not going to make excuses for using, because a drug addict really needs no excuse, but every time that I thought I could get clean or tried to get clean, I would think about that book, and all I’d want to do is numb out again,” Caserta told the publication.

‘Going Down with Janis’ book cover.Amazon

Amazon

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Caserta returned home to the New Orleans area from California in 2005 when her mother was showing signs of dementia. For the next 12 years, she was her caregiver.

Caserta, whose parents Sam and Novelle died before her, leaves no survivors.

source: people.com