Keith Richards has paid tribute to his "remarkable" former partner Anita Pallenberg following her death earlier this week

Alongside a professional black-and-white photograph of Anita when she was younger, he wrote: "A most remarkable woman. Always in my heart. (sic)"

Anita's exact cause of death is not yet known but friends close to the late star have revealed Keith - who also has two children with his wife Patti Hansen - was there for her in her final months and cared about her enormously.

Anita first met the Rolling Stones in 1965 when she and a friend snuck backstage at one of their concerts in Germany.

She initially embarked on a romance with guitarist Brian Jones - who died in 1969 - but as he grew increasingly abusive, she left him for Keith.

The pair had a turbulent relationship and split in 1980 and the 'Brown Sugar’ musician later claimed the 'Barbarella' actress - who was the band's muse and sang backing vocals on 'Sympathy for the Devil' - had had an affair with the group's frontman Sir Mick Jagger.

Anita and Keith lived a wild partying life together, but the 'Candy' actress later insisted she didn't regret the hedonistic period.

She said in 2008: "I don't think they were lost years. I went about doing what I did, travelling anyway, even if sometimes they had to carry me. Self-medication they call it now. I went into this - what do they call it before you become a butterfly? - cocoon for a long time. And in a way it's kept me probably more childlike; that's what drugs do to people, they stop emotional growth, so when you come out of it you're kind of 17."