A refugee to Italy during the Second World War, in 1948 she went to Johannesburg as an emigrant.
In 1972, her book, Freely Female: Women's Sexual Fantasies, was published by Ace Books in New York and was on the reading list for women’s studies programmes at a number of American universities.
In 1974, she had a son, Kasimir, with the Spaghetti Western actor, William Berger.
He also acted in the film Absurd aka Rosso sangue (1981) with his mother and sister.
From 10 March to 19 June 2011, a photograph of her taken by Ida Kar was displayed on the walls of the National Portrait Gallery.