Marianne Faithfull struggles to write because of chronic joint pain.

Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull

The 71-year-old singer - who was previously in a long-term relationship with Sir Mick Jagger but slept with his Rolling Stones bandmate Keith Richards - is now suffering from "terrible arthritis", after overcoming a number of other health problems, including struggles with addiction.

She told the Daily Mail newspaper: "I've got this terrible arthritis. It's in my left shoulder, arm and hand.

"I recovered from all those awful things, like the broken back and the hip and bone infection.

"That was bad enough -- then I got this arthritis. My mother had it too, so it's genetic, I think.

"I'm left-handed. That makes it hard for me to write or type. It's awful, man -- but I get through."

Despite being so high-profile in the 1960s, Marianne has previously insisted she doesn't want a movie to be made about her life - and if ever such a project was commissioned, she doesn't think people would be interested because her story isn't "bad enough" as she survived the decadent times.

She said in a previous interview: "I do not want a film made of my life. Never! It's a fool's game. People have tried, and it always ends up with me being offered, like, two grand. And they just make it up. My story isn't bad enough for them. Because I was not a prostitute, because I did not get raped, because I did not die. So, y'know, over my dead body."

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