If you came of age in the 1980s, you likely remember blond bombshell Samantha Fox, who transitioned from one of Great Britain’s most celebrated Page 3 pin-up girls into a top of the pop charts queen, with hit songs such as the global number one “Touch Me (I Want Your Body).” Although she was linked to numerous men, including Paul Stanley from the rock band Kiss, rumors about her true sexual orientation began to gain traction after she agreed to judge a lesbian beauty contest in 1999. Fox came out publicly in 2003 after falling in love with Myra Stratton, stating, “I have slept with other women but I’ve not been in love before Myra Stratton. People say I’m gay….I don’t know what I am. All I know is that I’m in love with Myra. I love her completely and want to spend the rest of my life with her.”
Sadly, Stratton passed away last weekend at age 60 following a two-year long battle against cancer. News of the death of the woman Fox, now 49, called her “soul mate” was confirmed via her official Twitter account.
It is with great sadness we announce the passing of Myra Stratton. She was Samantha Fox’s partner and manager for the last 16 years. (1/2)
— Samantha Fox (@SamFoxCom) August 4, 2015
She bravely fought cancer for the last 2 years but lost her battle on Sunday. Samantha asks for privacy as she grieves at this time. (2/2) — Samantha Fox (@SamFoxCom) August 4, 2015
Joshua Paul Almeida
Saddens me. Poor Sam.
Kieran
Sad when anyone dies. But why would this be on a gay website? Is she supposed to be another “icon” for gay men? *YAWN*
Jeremy Kinser
@Kieran:
Queerty is a site for LGBTQ people, their friends and supporters, not *just* gay men. Samantha and her late girlfriend belong to that umbrella acronym so it makes sense we’d write about them.
bsaucy00
@Jeremy Kinser: Well said
Scott Crone
Sorry for your loss.
Kangol
RIP to Samantha Fox’s partner.
Glücklich
That’s too bad. I am unfamiliar with Ms. Fox but just be looking at Myra..she looks like the kind of woman whose stories I’d want to hear.
Kieran
@Jeremy Kinser: Didn’t realize Samantha had come out in 2003. My mistake.
Jeremy Kinser
@Kieran:
No prob. I thought you were implying, as some other commenters have in the past, that Queerty editorial is aimed solely at gay men.
Jeffrey M Travis
Stupid headline, of course she’s DEVASTATED. Wouldn’t anyone be. Sad.
scotshot
A sad time for Ms. Fox.
Daggerman
..WOW! didn’t know Sam Fox was the same age as me…poor girl she’ll get over it in time..
aliengod
@Kieran: I think that lesbians are included in the LGB community! Did I miss something?
silveroracle
Poor Sam.
Our thoughts are with you.
jason smeds
Condolences to Ms Fox at this sad time. It is a difficult time when you lose a friend and partner.
Perhaps I shouldn’t mention this now but isn’t Ms Fox’s claim to fame that she posed topless on a regular basis for Rupert Murdoch’s soft-pornish newspaper The Sun in England?
I mean, I hardly think this is something good. Maybe the money was good.
brooklynbobby
@jason smeds: Samantha Fox only appeared in issues of The Sun until she was 20. She never really made it big outside of the UK but she was a successful pop singer and an actress in the UK in television series and 2 movies. She also had a part in the US sitcom Charles In Charge. So she was very well known there but was never able to make the cross over to American audiences. This isn’t unusual there are a fair number of UK singers that we never hear about here but are very successful over seas. So it is hardly fair to reduce her entire life to just a few appearance between the ages of 16-20 topless in a tasteless but popular news rag. When you don’t know a thing about someone it is usually best not to say anything rather than reduce them to a few throwaway lines.
bottom250
I@jason smeds: I know her as being a famous pop singer in N.A. my Daddy had her music on cassette