Annabel Edith Villagra was born on February 14, 1936, in
Nueve de Julio, a town southwest of Buenos Aires, Argentina. One of three children, her father was Nueve de Julio's medical officer, and her mother was a nurse. She grew up enjoying basketball, hunting, and folk dancing. She was a premedical student at the
University of Buenos Aires, then left at age 20 in 1956 after marrying Eduardo Battistella, a pianist who played in clubs. She then began dancing to accompany his piano-playing act. By the early 1960s, their act took them to
Miami, where she began stripping, and
Baltimore. At this time, she began using the stage name Fanne Foxe at the behest of her agent. Foxe emigrated to the United States in 1963 and became a legal resident in 1965. By the late 1960s, she was working in
Washington, DC. Although their marriage had collapsed, she allowed her husband to live with her in the Crystal Towers complex in
Arlington County, Virginia, because, as she told
The Washington Post, "I don't like him to spend money, and he is the father of my children." ==Mills scandal==