What looks like a sweet vacation photo of Tom Jones and Marjorie Wallace hides a much deeper, complicated history. At the height of his fame in the ’60s and ’70s, Tom Jones was a known ladies’ man—once claiming to have slept with 250 women a year—despite being married to his wife Linda for nearly six decades. Among his many flings, one affair stood out: Marjorie Wallace, the first American Miss World, crowned in 1973.
Tom and Marjorie met backstage in London when she was 19. Their affair became public in 1974 when they were photographed kissing on a beach in Barbados. The scandal cost Marjorie her crown, especially since she was also engaged to race car driver Peter Revson at the time.
Tragically, Revson died in a crash soon after. When Linda suspected the affair, Tom ended things with Marjorie, who was devastated and overdosed on sleeping pills. Though she recovered and insisted it wasn’t a suicide attempt, the fallout was immense. Tom sent her flowers from afar, reportedly shaken by the news.
Marjorie went on to work in TV, co-hosting Entertainment Tonight, and had multiple high-profile relationships and marriages. Today, at 71, she says she and Tom, now 84, remain friends and occasionally talk. What seems like a simple photo is actually a window into a dramatic chapter of celebrity history.