File photos of Carly Simon and Warren Beatty. (Image courtesy: AFP)
For more than 40 years, fans have speculated just who was "so vain" in the famous song by Carly Simon.
Now she has revealed the answer - Warren Beatty. But not entirely.
Ms Simon, who had a string of famous lovers, said that the actor was the subject of the memorable second verse turned chorus, "You're so vain/You probably think this song is about you."
"I have confirmed that the second verse is Warren," the now 70-year-old singer told
People magazine in an interview published November 18 ahead of the release of her memoir.
When asked if she had told him, Ms Simon replied cheekily, "Warren thinks the whole thing is about him!"
But she said that, in fact, the entire song was not about Mr Beatty and that other verses were about two other men, whom she did not name.
Ms Simon had long been coy about the subject of
You're So Vain, which was a number one hit in the United States in 1972.
But Warren Beatty had been a prime suspect. The actor, known for films including
Reds,
Heaven Can Wait and
Bugsy, was linked for years to famous women but has been married since 1992 to actress Annette Bening.
Other verses tell of how the "vain" man traveled to the Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York to see his horse win and flew a private jet to Nova Scotia "to see the total eclipse of the sun."
Other candidates often speculated to be the subject of the song includes singer and actor Kris Kristofferson.
Here's the song: