Rock legend Bob Dylan’s ex-girlfriend dubs the rocker vain, a liar and reveals she illegally aborted his baby in the 1960s, in a new autobiography.

Suze Rotolo - who appeared on the cover of Dylan’s album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan - makes the claims in A Freewheelin’ Time, due for release in May (08).

The 64-year-old writes, "Much time was spent in front of the mirror trying on one wrinkled article of clothing after another, until it all came together to look as if Bob had just gotten up and thrown something on. Image was all."

Rotolo also reveals his habit for telling lies about his childhood, including "the sad story he told of being abandoned at a young age in New Mexico and then going to live with a travelling circus."

She adds, "He had an uncanny ability to complicate the obvious and sanctify the banal - just like a poet. Bob was charismatic; he was a beacon, a lighthouse. He was also a black hole."

The pair eventually split, Rotolo claims, because she could handle the "pressure, gossip, truth and lies that living with Bob entailed".