Author Cormac McCarthy’s “secret muse” claims she would have “died young” had she not met the then 42-year-old author at the age of 16.
“I loved him,” said Augusta Britt, now 64, in an interview with Vanity Fair. She called him her “safety.” And the author appeared to love her, too, with Britt alleging that her likeness can be traced to over 10 of his novels.
According to Britt, she was “in and out of foster care” when she met McCarthy at a motel pool in Tuscon, Arizona, and their relationship began in 1977 when she ran away with him to Mexico.
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Their adventure became the basis of McCarthy’s 1985 novel Blood Meridian, in which a fictional teenager runs away from home across the US-Mexico border. And according to Britt, it was his spin on their relationship that she found most difficult.
In real life, Britt claimed the FBI was on their trail, and McCarthy feared he would be charged with statutory rape for taking an underage Britt across state lines. However, Vanity Fair said it could find no evidence of such investigation.
Britt said she didn’t have sex with the author until she was 17 and he was 43, but their relationship soured after she found out he was still married and had a son around her age.
The pair reportedly kept in touch for 47 years, up until McCarthy’s death at age 89 last year. According to Britt, she decided to come forward now in anticipation of her letters to the author being revealed when the second half of McCarthy’s archive becomes public at Texas State University next fall.
“I’ve been so afraid to tell my story,” said Britt. “It feels like I’m being disloyal to Cormac … But he would always warn me that at some point his archives would open up and people would find out about me.”
