BIOGRAPHY, WIKIPEDIA, FIRST HUSBAND, NET WORTH, LEUKAEMIA AND CAUSE OF DEATH of Jane Birkin who died of cancer

BIOGRAPHY, WIKIPEDIA, FIRST HUSBAND, NET WORTH, LEUKAEMIA AND CAUSE OF DEATH of Jane Birkin who died from cancer. 

Her first marriage came at 17, when Birkin married composer John Barry, himself famous for composing the iconic James Bond theme. Birkin and Barry had a daughter, Kate, but their marriage fell apart after only three years.

Jane Birkin was born in London in 1946. She married legendary British composer John Barry in 1965, though the union didn’t last. Birkin said it was a “really miserable marriage” and the two split shortly after.

Birkin left for Paris in 1968 to work on a film called “Slogan,” where she met Gainsbourg. Gainsbourg went on to write “Je t’aime… moi non plus” for Birkin and the song became an international hit that same year.

Birkin went on to become a darling of French cinema, appearing in over 70 films and working with some of France’s most esteemed directors, including Jean-Luc Godard, Agnes Varda and Bertrand Tavernier. She starred in notable movies such as Blow Up (1966), La Piscine (The Swimming Pool) in 1969 and Death on the Nile (1978).

She was also a model and came to be widely seen as a fashion trendsetter, inspiring the Birkin handbag, a style put into production by luxury French brand Hermès in 1984.

In a chance encounter on an Air France flight, Birkin happened to be sitting next to Jean-Louis Dumas, the then-CEO of Hermès, when she spilled the contents of her bag.

While bemoaning the lack of large bags on the market, especially for mothers, Dumas “immediately sketched a supple and spacious rectangular holdall with a burnished flap and saddle stitching”, according to the Hermès website.

And thus, the Birkin was born. One of the most exclusive bags, some styles cost many tens of thousands of dollars and have waiting lists of months, if not years.

The style became a fashion hit and has spawned several imitations – but in 2006, Birkin told the Guardian: “I love it, but I lug so much stuff around in it that I believe it is part of the reason I have tendonitis.”

Birkin and Gainsbourg were together for 12 years but remained friends after their split, with Gainsbourg – who was 18 years older than Birkin – still writing songs for her years later.

The couple had a daughter, Charlotte Gainsbourg, who is an award-winning actress and singer.

Their relationship has been frequently described as “tumultuous”, and Birkin wrote about violence between the two in her 2020 diaries, as well as the challenges of Gainsbourg’s alcoholism.

But she frequently defended the man she became so closely associated with – including against charges by one singer that he was a “harasser” in an interview in the Times in 2020 – and continued to promote his work long after his death in 1991.

Asked by the same newspaper about their lifestyle last year, she said: “I don’t know how easy it was for the children to have a mother who was naked in magazines and a father burning 500 franc notes. I hope one did some things right.”

The duet was recorded in 1968, months after they met on the set of the film Slogan.

It was banned on radio in several countries and condemned by the Vatican because of its overtly sexual lyrics but introduced the pair to a new international audience.

French President Emmanuel Macron described Birkin as a “French icon” and a “complete artist” who “bequeaths us tunes and images that will never leave us”.

France’s Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne said she “transcended generations”. She was the inspiration for the famous Birkin bag by French luxury house Hermes.

“Mom represents a very Parisian style, which is funny because she’s not,” her daughter Lou Doillon told CNN in 2017.

Birkin’s cause of death is not yet known, but she had been in poor health in recent years and suffered a stroke in 2021. Her attendance of the premier of the documentary “Jane by Charlotte,” about Birkin’s relationship with her daughter Charlotte, was one of the star’s last public appearance before her death.

Birkin is survived by Doillon and actress Charlotte Gainsbourg, her daughter with Serge. Another daughter, Kate Barry, died in 2013 at the age of 46. Actress and singer Jane Birkin has died at age 76, according to France’s Culture Ministry and French media.

The British-born star was famously known for her musical and romantic relationship with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. Their songs notably included the steamy “Je t’aime moi non plus”.

The French Culture Ministry tweeted that Birkin died Sunday. It hailed her as a “timeless Francophone icon”.

French news outlets Liberation and BFM TV reported that Birkin was found dead at her home in Paris. French newspaper Le Figaro reported that Birkin had suffered from health issues in the past few years that kept her from performing and her public appearances became sparse.

Ms Birkin’s health hit headlines back in 2002, when she was diagnosed with Leukaemia, which she had described as a ‘not very painful cancer’ – but in May she cancelled a serious of concerts when it got worse.

She said at the time: ‘I have always been a great optimist, and I realise that I still need a little time to be able again on stage and with you’.

A few years back, following many torrid, youthful years of excess, Ms Birkin detailed her relationship with alcohol – and how her cancer changed that.

The London-born singer also suffered a stroke in 2021 and was forced to cancel several concerts that year. She cancelled shows again last March after breaking her shoulder blade.

She is one of Britain’s best-known Sixities sensations, known for her romantic affairs, striking looks and fashion sense. She is perhaps best known for the French duet Je T’aime… Moi Non Plus, which she sung with her ex Serge Gainsbourg in 1968. 

Birkin was best known internationally for her steamy 1969 duet “Je t’aime… moi non plus” which she sang with Gainsbourg, one year after meeting him on the shoot of Pierre Grimblat’s “Slogan.” Although she hadn’t broken through at the time, she had a small but memorable part in Michelangelo Antonioni’s sultry 1966 film “Blow Up.”

Together, Birkin and Gainsbourg had a daughter, the actor and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg (“Melancholia,” “Nymphomaniac”). After splitting in 1980, the pair remained close and pursued their artistic collaboration. Birkin was creatively involved in three albums by Gainsbourg, “Baby Alone in Babylone” in 1983, “Lost Song” in 1987 and “Amours des feintes” in 1990. Birkin also released several solo albums, including “Di Doo Dah,” “Ex fan des sixties” and “Lolita Go Home,” and collaborated with other popular musicians such as Etienne Daho.