Raised Jewish in Philadelphia, Spungen was an emotionally disturbed child who was diagnosed with schizophrenia at age 15. After being expelled from college, she flew to London in December 1976 at the height of the punk rock movement and became involved with Vicious, the bass player of the Sex Pistols. Their relationship was punctuated by bouts of domestic violence and drug abuse. The press soon labelled Spungen "Nauseating Nancy" for her outrageous and frequently antisocial behavior. After John Lydon left the band and Vicious was made the new front man, the couple moved to New York City and checked into the Hotel Chelsea, where they spent much of their time using drugs, especially heroin.
In October 1978, Spungen was found dead in the bathroom of the couple's room, with a single stab wound to the abdomen. Vicious was charged with her murder, but died of a heroin overdose while on bail in February 1979 before the case went to trial. Various authors and filmmakers have speculated about Vicious' role in Spungen's death and the possibility that Spungen was killed by a drug dealer who frequently visited their room.
Nancy Laura Spungen was born on February 27, 1958, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, to Franklin "Frank" (1934–2010) and Deborah Spungen (born 1937). She was born with severe cyanosis and nearly died of oxygen deprivation after being choked by her umbilical cord during delivery. Spungen appeared to have had no brain damage and was released from the hospital eight days after birth. The Spungens were a middle-class Jewish family that resided in Lower Moreland Township, a suburb of Philadelphia.[page needed] Spungen's father was a traveling salesman and her mother later owned an organic food store called The Earth Shop in nearby Jenkintown.

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