Jul 16, 2023 1:06pm BST
Updated 16 minutes ago
According to French media, singer and actress Jane Birkin has died at the age of 76.
Known for her professional and personal relationship with musician Serge Gainsbourg, the Anglo-French star was considered a style icon in the late 1960s and 1970s.
She was born in London but rose to fame as a singer in French and moved there in the 1970s.
Her personal and artistic relationship with Gainsbourg – who died in 1991 – made her known worldwide after her international hit “Je t’aime… moi non plus”.
The duet was recorded in 1968, months after they met on the set of the film Slogan.
It was banned from radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican for its overtly sexual lyrics, but introduced the couple to a new international audience.
Birkin and Gainsbourg dated for 12 years but remained friends after their split, with Gainsbourg – who was 18 years Birkin’s senior – still writing songs for her years later.
The couple had one daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, an award-winning actress and singer.
Their relationship has often been described as “tempestuous,” and Birkin reportedly wrote in her 2020 diaries that violence broke out between the two.
But she frequently defended the man she was so close with, including against allegations by a singer that he had been a “harasser,” in a 2020 interview with The Times.
When asked about her lifestyle by the same newspaper last year, she said: “I don’t know how easy it was for the kids to have a mother who was naked in magazines and a father who had 500 franc notes burned. I hope some things have been done right.”
The couple separated in 1981 and Birkin continued her career as an actress and singer, releasing albums such as Baby Alone in Babylone (1983) and Amour des Feintes (1990).
Before moving to France and meeting Gainsbourg, she was married to British composer John Barry until the late 1960s.
Image source: Getty Images
Their daughter Kate Barry was a fashion photographer who worked for Vogue and died in 2013 at the age of 46.
Birkin has a third daughter – musician, model and actress Lou Doillon – from her relationship with French film director Jacques Doillon in the 1980s.
Birkin’s acting credits have included such films as the 1966 classic Blow Up, Death on the Nile (1978) and Evil Under the Sun (1982).
She released a self-penned album entitled Arabesque in 2002 and a collection of live recordings entitled Jane at the Palace in 2009.
She was also a model and was widely regarded as a fashion trendsetter. She was the inspiration for the Birkin handbag, a model produced by Hermes.
Menna Rawlings, the British Ambassador to France, paid tribute to her on Twitter, describing her as “the most French of all British artists”.
French Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot told French TV channel BFM: “This departure is so sad. She was a beautiful person.”
In September 2021, it was reported that she had suffered a stroke that forced her to cancel a scheduled appearance at an American film festival.