Bee Beardsworth: “I’m not sure if there is a line between love and obsession. I think they are intertwined.”

I first crossed paths with Bee Beardsworth (who’s a kind of multi-hyphenate, though she’d probably resent that label), when I was a writer for her magazine. At the peak of working together, we went to a film screening and I choked on my glass of wine. It’s a moment I’ll replay as I take my final breath. Back then, Bee had long hair. She still had, however, that particular brand of effortlessness that’s impossible to fake. Think the sister from Saltburn, if Emerald Fennell was capable of nuance. Now she’s fronting Mila Simona’s “Crimes of Passion” campaign with a buzzcut that she wears infinitely better than I ever did. I say that, but my own slaphead (which Bee asked me about before doing it herself) did earn me a photoshoot for a vintage reseller. They offered one, anyway. I declined. 

“Crimes of Passion” draws from three true crime stories — an art heist, a NASA astronaut’s revenge mission, and an undercover cop with mafia entanglements. Bee plays Lisa Nowak, the astronaut who drove 900 miles with “an 8-inch knife, trash bags, trench coat and wig, apparently planning to kill her ex’s new lover.” Her take? “But I mean, who hasn’t?” This is classic Bee — intensity wrapped in deadpan. Her vocabulary might drift towards “meteopath” and “quotient social norms,” but it never dilutes her particular strain of humor. She’ll describe a perfume smelling like “a cobbled street after rain” then dismiss questions about her future with “I find it so obnoxious when people are interviewed and they list what they have ‘coming up’.” When asked if playing these passion-driven characters was challenging, she tells me that “It wasn’t the hardest acting job of [her] life.” From someone whose “default setting” is intensity (“both a blessing and a curse”) it checks out. 

I managed to grab Bee for a quick chat (while she wasn’t writing about stripper perfumes or partying in some Berlin basement) to discuss crimes of passion, astronaut stalkers, and why she’s never growing her hair out again. 

Amber Rawlings: How are you Bee? How’s life treating you?

Bee Beardsworth: The sun is finally shining, so it’s a good day for a meteopath.

AR: The campaign explores these intense crimes driven by passion — was there a particular character or story that you connected with more than others?

BB: Camila built the campaign around women who have committed crimes of passion. The character she matched me with is Lisa Nowak. Long story short, Lisa was a NASA astronaut who drove 900 miles across America with an 8-inch knife, trash bags, trench coat and wig, apparently planning to kill her ex’s new lover. But I mean, who hasn’t? 

AR: I loved what you wrote for PULP recently. I think it could even be said that it’s got that same, very raw intimacy as this campaign — do you find yourself drawn to exploring these intense human experiences?

BB: Thank you. Intensity is my default setting, which is both a blessing and a curse. Feeling things in this visceral, raw way is what often draws me to people or places. It is also something I attract. fucking in the bathroom (Dancefloor Love) is written about three formative, transformative encounters that took place at parties over three years. The dance floor is a very raw space that lets people explore parts of themselves and others that otherwise they might not. We often stereotype these places as mindlessly hedonistic and escapist but the freedom and openness of breaking with quotient social norms opens up a space of magic and transcendence.  

AR: How does playing these passion-driven characters from the campaign compare to the real-life Bee that your friends know?

BB: It wasn’t the hardest acting job of my life.

AR: Since shaving your head, do you feel like you’ve approached modeling and self-expression differently? I remember you asking me about mine back in the day! I feel like you never know just how much it alters your perception of beauty and femininity. 

BB: I’d always wanted to buzz my hair, and I thought you really pulled it off. I’d gone back and forth on it for years, but I actually ended up doing it spontaneously. I’d come off a week-long shoot and my roots looked like shit. I was flying to Berlin in the morning and my friend had clippers at his house. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I love androgynous beauty and unconventional self-expression, and I have never felt more myself. 

AR: With your perfume column with Dazed exploring such unconventional scents, I’m curious… What would a “crime of passion” smell like to you?

BB: I actually have the perfect perfume for this, from the box I just got. Rouge Smoking Extrait from BDK is this heady, intoxicating amber and cherry scent. It’s rich and slightly boozy, and brings to mind a clandestine speakeasy or velvet-walled backroom. It has this underlying almost animalic, sweaty note, and something that seems slightly cold to me — like the smell of a cobbled street after rain. It reeks of passion, impulse, sensuality and abandon. It’s alluring, addictive, but slightly intimidating and very intense. 

AR: The campaign has this beautiful darkness to it as well — how does that align with your own aesthetic? Or the parts of yourself you enjoy expressing? I feel like “hedonism” is gonna be the little buzzword here… 

BB: The campaign definitely feels like an expression of sensuality and sexuality in a raw, wild way. I think that is what true sexiness is, especially coming from a place of personal expression as opposed to performativity. What draws us to someone or something is wanting to know more, and seeing someone so comfortable in themselves and knowing themselves so well. With my own style, I always wear what I feel most comfortable in. Feeling comfortable in yourself is the most sexy thing.  

AR: How does lingerie modelling create a different kind of vulnerability or power compared to other work you’ve done?

BB: Without clothes to cover it, your body becomes the object of the aesthetic fantasy. It’s a more personally vulnerable state to inhabit and demands more of the individual because you have to move beyond the universal insecurities humans project into their bodies and try to embody whatever message the campaign wants to curate. You are holding up the framework of the outfit, in a way. I actually interviewed strippers about what their relationship to perfume and beauty is for my latest Dazed column, and it’s fascinating how removing clothing and the shield of aesthetics can be intimidating, but creates a freedom to navigate a more intimate and erotic form of communication.

AR: These stories explore how passion can drive people to extremes — has working on the campaign shifted how you think about that fine line between love and obsession?

BB: Recently a friend of mine said that she loves people who are obsessive because obsession requires a level of fantasy. I think real love also requires a level of fantasy. Love and obsession are both very extreme, but they make life into something beautiful. Fantasy can also become madness… I’m not sure if there is a line between love and obsession. I think they are intertwined. 

AR: What’s something about this shoot that would surprise people who only know you through your social media? Or maybe something about you just in a broader sense? I feel like it must get a little stifling to be the “party girl” sometimes. I even find that to some extent. 

BB: Maybe I don’t go out as much as people think. But that might not be true. I suppose people can’t tell how charming, loyal, down-to-earth or hilarious I am. Or how good I smell. 

AR: The campaign speaks to how transient and fragile these intense emotions can be — does that resonate with your perspective on beauty and connection?

BB: Trascience and fragility are beautiful in a delicate way, like an insect wing. Ephemerality often adds to beauty. Some of the most beautiful connections I have had were fleeting, and made more beautiful because of it. We often don’t appreciate things unless something adds pressure and forces us to be present, as distracted and self-obsessed as we all are. 

AR: What’s next? I imagine that, at least on the side of modelling, it’s going to be hard to take on jobs without this same level of depth/meaning. 

BB: I find it so obnoxious when people are interviewed and they list what they have ‘coming up’. I am also usually the last to know what is next. Follow me if you want to find out. 

AR: Can you ever grow out your hair now?

BB: Luckily it looks good, because I am not planning on finding out what the regrowth will look like any time soon. 

You can find out more about “Crimes of Passion” here.