But first she had to get out of suburban Pasadena. So when the 15-year-old Lili met American motorcycle racer Cordy Milne, she knew this was her chance. Three years later, he invited the lithe young girl to join him on a tour of England and she rapidly accepted.
And so in 1935, a jubilant Lili set sail on the SS Manhattan. She brought so many glamorous home-made clothes with her that she appeared much more affluent than the reality.
Slender, graceful and beautifully turned out - it was enough to turn the head of another passenger, the legendary furrier Maxwell Croft. Before the voyage was over, they had become illicit lovers.
But despite this thrilling shipboard romance, Lili stuck to her plans to marry Cordy Milne, and in July 1936, became the biker's wife at London's Stoke Newington register office - though she was still carrying on the affair.
But marital bliss did not hold Lili for long. Just two months later, she returned to the U.S. alone, determined to get a divorce. She had such a good time crossing the Atlantic, the newly-single Lili spent the next four years travelling back and forth on various boats having affairs with rich fellow travellers.
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