News feed
Viewers of Quentin Tarantino’s 2019 film Once Upon A Time… In Hollywood would be somewhat aware of the story of Sharon Tate. The actress and model was murdered by the Charles Manson family in 1969 when she was stabbed whilst eight months pregnant. She was just 26. Never-before-seen candid photographs have since been found by a distant family member which were then shared with South West News Service this week.
The full series of film snaps of which can be found in full here, show a 21-year-old Tate sun baking in a tiny green bikini at a friend’s home in Manhattan Beach, California, in May 1964. The photographs were originally discovered back in 2017 by Ashley Miller Cabrejas who had come across the collection of images while looking for camera equipment in her garage.
According to the Instagram account @simplysharontate, she attempted to sell the previously unseen photographs online but they were never sent to the buyers.
Cabrejas is reportedly the stepdaughter of Donald Hagen who married Tate’s best friend, Laurie, another inspiring actress and model from Tacoma, Washington. She is not however Laurie’s daughter. “They had been sitting in our garage for years until I came across them cleaning his stuff,” she told the outlet. Cabrejas added that the photos were a “totally casual thing” taken before Tate had grown to fame for her role Valley of the Dolls in 1967.
The actress was married to director Roman Polanski at the time of her death. Adding to the story behind the photos, Cabrejas said, “Don and Sharon were, I guess, what you would assume normal for the roommate of your girlfriend and future wife. I went through all his pics. I found out that [he] was quite the ladies’ man, to say the least.”
Hagen reportedly spoke many times on his friendship with Tate, with Cabrejas admitting she hadn’t listened quite as intently as she should. “I really wish I would have asked more questions but it was difficult since that life he had was a life before my mom.”
