Jennifer Abbott: ‘vivacious’

THE social media trail that Jennifer Abbott has left behind transports us to a glamorous world of private planes, helicopter rides, daring ziplines, ski adventures, scuba diving and posing for paparazzi cameras at premieres and award ceremonies.

These posts have now been eclipsed by stories of how she was found dead in her London flat. She did not brag and boast of her life experiences to neighbours, and instead was known for how much she doted on her dog.

Perhaps few of them will have watched the clips on YouTube of her networking effortlessly with famous faces in the worlds of TV and film.

There are the pictures of a past life in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, souvenirs of meeting the likes of Paris Hilton, Kate Hudson and Dan Aykroyd. Every photo bears a radiant smile, Abbott beaming with conviction about her own place in the movie world.

That all said, the CV wasn’t stocked full of commercial hits, maybe because her most mentioned film saw her pivot from drama to a documentary, War of Gods in 2010.

The film aimed “to prove to the world that religion has become the weapon used both by the devout, and political leaders, to win their wars.” In one promotional piece, she speaks calmly to suggest the White House was fuming at its content. “The Beverly Hills police busted in, handcuffed me and detained me for three days in the Beverly Hills jail,” she said. “They confiscated my movie for the period of nine months until President Bush’s team came out of office. During that period I wasn’t allowed to communicate with anyone including my attorney. After 53 hours of abuse and fear they opened the cell and let me go without any explanation.

“All fabricated charges were dismissed at a legal review at the LA district attorney’s office.” She added: “This documentary also aims to prove that the manner in which the government are established whether religious or political, is filled with contradiction and hypocrisy but I truly believe unless we dismiss our religious differences and walk hand in hand with each other towards peace and harmony we will never succeed to make this world a better place.”So while there may be many pictures and videos of Ms Abbott at celebrity events and apparently enjoying the nights that go with being a player in the industry, several residents in Mornington Place said she would love conversation about current affairs and global politics, just as much as her interests in film.

Nancy Pexton and The Rolex watch

She won several awards for War of Gods – not at the Oscars but she found herself on a tour of film festivals which took her from Egypt to Las Vegas, and a stop for the Heart of England awards and the Swansea Film Festival.

As she thanked the organisers for their hospitality and kindness at the latter, a man from the side of the stage shouts “well it’s easy when you’re a pretty lady”.

Perhaps this moment captures an uncomfortable clash between how Abbott has been portrayed more than once, striking life of the party “vivacious”, and her serious intent for a documentary in which she successfully brought together academics, politicians and journalists for interviews. .

This was heavy stuff, and a new direction.

It has been suggested she spent 10 years or so living in LA, and was the chief executive officer of a clutch of film companies.

But, while she has been described as a Hollywood film director in many media reports, much of the output almost seems more like labours of love or pet projects than work which was never going to trouble the box office records.

She said she had been working on making a film of Gerald’s Game, the Stephen King novel about a woman hallucinating horrors after being chained to a bed by her husband. This eventually became the base for a successful movie, but not by Abbott.

At one time she said she would soon be moving to the mainstream and be in a “huge motion picture” that she would produce and direct. Her online CV had several “coming soon” entries and she openly dreamed about casting Christopher Walken and Jason Alexander, George from Seinfeld, in a film version of her 2006 novel The Other Dimension. This did not come to pass, and instead she made Temple of Fear in 2004 – an adaptation of her book but without any celebrity stardust.

Even with the smiles in every photo, nobody said it was easy to get a star on Hollywood Boulevard, but it appeared she enjoyed trying.

The shared photo albums also find her in Maui, Hawaii on a boat soaking up the sun in a yellow bikini, picking grapes at a vineyard and posing for a picture in front of a Ferrari, wearing a red top to match.

By any estimation, it does all seem a different world from the streets of London where Abbott was more recently seen every day walking her dog.

We do get snapshots and glimpses. Conversations are remembered. But it is not known how Abbott ended up in her flat. She was described by one neighbour as “mysterious” but several residents knew she had lived in Beverly Hills and was connected in some way to film.

The information she shared online showed she had originally been from Scottsdale, Arizona. She also told friends she had studied at what is now Merton Technical College and at Pelham High School in Wimbledon.

Her self-declared list of interests were trans-Atlantic too: baseball, cricket, and Chelsea FC.

In London, and in more recent years, Prince meeting another dog on a walk seemed to have been of greater interest than the capricious entertainment industry.

One neighbour described Jenifer Abbott as energetic and “ always with a smile on her face”.

A complex, colourful, cheery, character, but you’d imagine that’s how she’d want to be remembered.