Jane Birkin died on July 16 at age 76.Photo:Steve Wood/Evening Standard/Getty Images
Steve Wood/Evening Standard/Getty Images
Jane Birkin has died at age 76.
The British-born singer and actress died on Sunday, the French Ministry of Culture confirmed in atweet, calling her a “timeless French-speaking icon.”
Reps for the actress didn’t immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
The beloved actress’ cause of death is not yet known but, according toABC News, the actress has been plagued with health issues in recent years — including a stroke in 2021 and a broken shoulder blade earlier this year — which have kept her from performing and appearing publicly.
Jane Birkin, who died on July 16, 2023 at age 76, at Cannes Film Festival in 2021.Getty
Getty
Born in London in December 1946 to Judy Campbell and David Birkin, the actress found fame — and a lifelong home — in France after moving to Paris to work on the movieSloganwhen she was 20, according toCNN. On the set of the 1968 film, she met and coupled up with the film’s star, French actor and singer-songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
Later that same year, Birkin and Gainsbourg — who became a nationwide French fascination — collaborated on the actress’s most well-known song, sexually suggestive duet “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus," which translates to “I Love You… Me Neither.”
Cover art for Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg’s duet “Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus”.Courtesy Fontana
In a 2006 interview withCNN, Birkin reflected on her very public relationship with the singer, a connection that catapulted her into the French spotlight.
“He and I became the most famous of couples in that strange way because of ‘Je t’aime’ and because we stuck together for 13 years,” she told the outlet of her former flame, whodied in 1991. “And he went on being my friend until the day he died. Who could ask for more? So Paris became my home. I’ve been adopted here.”
Jane Birkin, who died on July 16, 2023 at age 76, in London in 1973.Getty
In the 2006 interview, the actress also reflected on her fashion icon status in the country that “adopted” her and, ever-so-humbly, essentially pinned it to luck.
“They like my accent [and] when I came here the skirts were shorter than anyone else’s,” she told CNN. “Everyone at home was wearing just the same as me. I was the lucky one because I got here first so they thought it was my fashion.”
As her youngest daughter Lou Doillon, 40, put it in a 2017 interview with CNN, the actress now “represents a very Parisian style — which is funny because she’s not.”
Jane Birkin and her daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon.Jerome Domine/Abaca/Startraks
Her daughter Kate Barry, who she shared with ex-husband and composer John Barry, died in 2013 at age 46.
In addition to “Je T’Aime … Moi Non Plus,” her chic style and her love life, Birkin also made a name for herself as an actress beyondSlogan, starring in several iconic films. She is most known forThe Blow-Up(1966),Death on the Nile(1978) andEvil Under the Sun(1982), according toIMDb. She made her directorial debut withBoxesin 2007.
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French president Emmanuel Macron lauded the actress in atributeon Twitter following her death, writing, “Because she embodied freedom, because she sang the most beautiful words of our language, Jane Birkin was a French icon.”
He continued, “A complete artist, her voice was as sweet as her engagements were fiery. She bequeaths us tunes and images that will never leave us.”
source: people.com
