Topic: Nancy Spungen

Nancy Laura Spungen (February 27, 1958 – October 12, 1978) was the American girlfriend of Sex Pistols bassist Sid Vicious. Spungen has been the subject of controversy among music historians and fans of the Sex Pistols.

Spungen was born in Lower Moreland Township, Pennsylvania to Frank and Deborah Spungen. The Spungens were a middle class Jewish family in the Huntington Valley area, a suburb of Philadelphia. Her father was a businessman and her mother owned a local health food store called The Earth Shop in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. She was born a month premature, and suffered from severe cyanosis.

As a child, she was extremely intelligent and was allowed to skip the third grade. However, she was hyperactive and reportedly exhibited violent behavior towards her younger sister Susan and brother David. She was also alleged to have threatened to kill a babysitter with scissors, and to have attacked her mother with a hammer during an argument. By age 11, she had been expelled from public schooling and was receiving psychotherapy. She reportedly attempted suicide numerous times before the age of fourteen, and suffered from bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder. Her family sent her to various residential facilities for disturbed children, including the Devereux Glenholme School and Devereux Manor High School. After graduating from Devereux Manor High School in April 1974, at age 16, she enrolled at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was expelled five months later.