Joanna Harcourt-Smith

Joanna Harcourt-Smith (1946 – 2020) was a Swiss-born author, speaker, and podcast host, best known for her relationship with the American psychologist and writer Timothy Leary.

Early Life

Harcourt-Smith was born in 1946 in Switzerland. She was raised in a wealthy and aristocratic family, with her father being a financier and her mother a descendant of European nobility. Despite her privileged upbringing, Harcourt-Smith described her childhood as traumatic, marked by neglect and abuse.

Relationship with Timothy Leary

In the early 1970s, Harcourt-Smith began a relationship with Timothy Leary, a prominent figure in the counterculture movement and advocate for the therapeutic and spiritual benefits of psychedelic drugs. Their relationship began while Leary was in exile in Switzerland, fleeing from drug charges in the United States. Harcourt-Smith would later claim that she was used by the CIA to lure Leary back to the U.S., where he was arrested upon arrival.

Later Life and Career

After Leary's release from prison, Harcourt-Smith and Leary separated. Harcourt-Smith then embarked on a journey of self-discovery and healing, exploring various forms of therapy and spiritual practices. She wrote a memoir, Tripping the Bardo with Timothy Leary: My Psychedelic Love Story, detailing her tumultuous relationship with Leary and her own personal transformation.

In the 2000s, Harcourt-Smith began hosting a podcast, Future Primitive, where she interviewed a wide range of guests on topics such as spirituality, ecology, and psychedelic experiences.

Death

Harcourt-Smith died in 2020 at the age of 74. Her life and relationship with Leary were the subject of the 2020 documentary My Psychedelic Love Story, directed by Errol Morris.

See Also

• Timothy Leary
• Psychedelic therapy
• Counterculture of the 1960s