⚠️ This article discusses historical events involving mental health and self-harm. It is intended strictly for educational and informational purposes.
Sylvia Plath’s husband, Ted Hughes, began an affair with Assia Wevill shortly before Plath died in 1963. To many admirers of Plath, Wevill became one of the most controversial figures in the poet’s life — and her own fate years later would eerily mirror Plath’s.
Assia Wevill was a translator, copywriter, and strikingly charismatic woman who moved to London in 1961 with her husband, the poet David Wevill. When they rented an apartment from Hughes and Plath in Primrose Hill, a connection formed almost instantly between Assia and Hughes. Both were married, yet the attraction deepened quickly.
After Plath’s death, Assia moved in with Hughes. They raised Plath’s two young children and later welcomed a daughter of their own, Shura, in 1965. But the shadow of Plath — her talent, her legend, her tragedy — weighed heavily on Assia. She once described Plath as “my predecessor between our heads at night.”
A Life Already Marked by Upheaval
Born in Berlin in 1927 to a Jewish father, Assia fled Germany as a child when persecution escalated. Her family resettled in Tel Aviv, where she spent her formative years. Marriage became her path to England when she wed British soldier John Steele in 1947. Though the marriage was short-lived, it opened the door to the life she desired in the West.
Assia later married Canadian economist Richard Lipsey, then began a relationship with poet David Wevill — whom she eventually married in 1960. Her charm, intelligence, and artistic flair impressed nearly everyone she met, including Ted Hughes.
By 1961, when the Wevills moved into Hughes and Plath’s property, the paths of all four lives became intertwined.
The Affair That Split Hughes And Plath
In 1962, the Hugheses invited Assia and David Wevill to stay at their Devon home. Whether the affair had already begun or ignited that weekend remains unclear, but it escalated quickly afterward. By autumn, Plath had discovered the betrayal and the marriage collapsed.
Plath’s mental health deteriorated in the months that followed, and she died in early 1963. Within weeks, Assia Wevill moved into Hughes’ home — a decision that drew harsh judgment from Plath’s admirers and deepened the public scrutiny around her.
Assia became pregnant around this time, though she later decided not to continue the pregnancy. Two years later, she gave birth to Shura, whose presence both bonded her to Hughes and intensified the emotional weight she carried.
Her private writings reveal a woman overwhelmed by the comparison to Plath — overwhelmed by guilt, insecurity, and the pressure of living inside someone else’s myth:
“What insanity drove me into this maze? Sylvia — always Sylvia — my predecessor between our heads at night.”
A Downward Spiral
Despite her professional success in advertising and her talent as a translator, Assia struggled internally. She felt increasingly overshadowed by Plath’s memory and increasingly unsure of her place in Hughes’ life.
She recorded her turmoil in her diary:
“She had a million times the talent… I opened Pandora’s box, and now I must carry her shadow.”
Her relationship with Hughes grew unstable. He often spent long periods away, and Assia felt trapped between her devotion to him and her growing emotional exhaustion.
In 1968, she quietly drafted a will that hinted at her pain, leaving Hughes what she described as “my no doubt welcome absence.”
The Tragedy Of 1969
On March 23, 1969, Assia Wevill died at age 41 in her London home, together with her young daughter, Shura.
To comply with safety guidelines, the detailed circumstances are not described here.
Her death devastated those who knew her and cast a long, permanent shadow over Hughes’ life.
Aftermath And Legacy
Following Assia’s death, Hughes wrote a series of unpublished poems — rediscovered decades later — in which he grappled with grief, guilt, and permanent loss. Lines such as “You were too young to know about death” reveal a man haunted by what had happened.
Today, Assia Wevill remains one of the most contested figures in 20th-century literary history. She is often viewed only as “the woman who came between Hughes and Plath,” or as a tragic footnote to Plath’s biography.
But her real story is more complex:
She was a refugee, a gifted linguist, a vibrant artistic force, and ultimately a woman crushed by circumstances far larger than herself.
Her life — turbulent, brilliant, and painfully human — continues to spark debate among readers, scholars, and historians alike.