The Anglo-French singer and actor Jane Birkin has died at the age of 76, the French culture ministry has announced.
The singer had been forced to postpone several concerts in Paris scheduled for May after breaking her shoulder in March 2022. This followed another string of cancelled shows after Birkin had a stroke in September 2021.
“I’ve always been a big optimist, and I realise that it still takes me a little while to be able to be on stage again and with you. I love being with you so much,” she said in a statement at the time.
She was found dead at her home in Paris, French media reported.
Birkin was born in London on 14 December 1946 to an actor mother and naval officer father. At 17, she married the James Bond composer John Barry but the marriage lasted only three years.
She catapulted to fame after starring in the 1966 film Blow-Up – which featured a scene in which Birkin appeared nude before crossing the channel in 1968 at the age of 22 to star in a satirical romantic comedy Slogan alongside the pop-poet Serge Gainsbourg, who was 18 years her senior.
It was the start of a 13-year on- and off-screen relationship that made them France’s most famous couple, in the spotlight as much for their bohemian and hedonistic lifestyle as for their work.
Despite being banned on radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican because of its overtly sexual lyrics, their 1968 song Je t’aime … moi non plus (“I love you … me neither”) achieved worldwide success and reached No 1 in the UK singles chart.
Their relationship has been frequently described as “tumultuous”, and Birkin reportedly wrote in her 2020 diaries that there had been violence between the couple. During one of their rows, Birkin launched herself into the River Seine after throwing a custard pie in Gainsbourg’s face.
But she frequently defended the man with whom she became so closely associated, including against charges by one singer that he was a “harasser”, in an interview in the Times in 2020.
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Le journal du peintre 2 