Jane Birkin
Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE is an English actress and singer based in France. She is perhaps best known for her relationship with Serge Gainsbourg in the 1970s and being the namesake of the popular Hermès Birkin bag. In recent years she has written her own album, directed a film and become an outspoken proponent of democracy in Myanmar...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionMovie Actress
Date of Birth14 December 1946
believe chose daughter genius john love married pair parents talented
My first husband, John Barry, was a composer. I couldn't believe that this sophisticated, talented genius chose me and not any of the other girls. I was so flattered, so excited, so in love with him. Of course, my parents were horrified, as he'd been married once and had a daughter with the au pair girl.
alone enjoy note paper pencil piece slow train wonderful writers
I don't much enjoy travelling, but I have always longed to take a slow train to Russia. I'd like to go alone - like writers do - with only a pencil and piece of paper as company. I'd take my sketchbook and note down all the wonderful details of other travellers.
david fascinated
David Attenborough... has that wonderful, breathy voice, and he's always so fascinated by what he's seeing. There's nothing about him that I can't find attractive.
bag changing course cushion hate quite squashed ten time
I never have more than one bag at a time. I think one is already quite enough. Also, I hate changing bags, so I never have the thing of having ten bags. Any bag that's with me will take the same course as I will. It will take the same airplanes and will be squashed in the same way and will be used as a cushion in the airports.
covered everywhere gone great less nose sides veins
Without my specs on, I think I look really great; then I put them on, and I scream. But at 62, I still think less is better. I use Clarins foundation, but I don't put it everywhere - I hate that covered look - so just on the sides of my nose where the veins have gone bang.
came father funny herself judy lady life meeting perform squashed stunning
When my father died, my mother came back from being Mrs. Birkin to being Judy Campbell. She was a stunning actress. She came out of her shell. She was herself again: this very independent, funny, intellectual lady - and was able to perform again, which was her life before meeting my father squashed it out.
mind weight
I have to be careful not to get a paunch - I'm so skinny that if I put any weight anywhere, it'd be there, and I don't like a bulge. I wouldn't mind if it went on my bosom, but it doesn't.
I think there is an extreme charm in the French, and actually it's their bolshiness that makes them such fun.
authors good local relevant studied
I think it's always good to read local authors or relevant books. In Egypt, I studied hieroglyphics and read everything about the mummies.
relationships
I can't be the only person in the world to have three different husbands, and yet those relationships are never talked about.
I always hang things on my bags because I don't like them looking like everyone else's.
children daughters lend quite three
I had a baby at 19 and was a grandmother by 39. Now, my children lend me their children to take them off to Brittany. It's divine. I'm quite exceptionally lucky. I've never had a week without having all three of my daughters on the telephone.
cruel great hitting people
I don't like getting older, but there's nothing I can do. Hitting 60 wasn't great, but I think I was lucky in not being that beautiful; it can be really cruel on people who have been stunning.
aged arrived death france protest time unpopular
When I arrived in France aged 20, I marched against the death penalty, which was an unpopular thing to protest against at the time.