File:Charlotte Gainsbourg 1, Inauguration of Jardin Serge-Gainsbourg.jpg

Photo by Olivier Pacteau from Wikimedia

Top 10 Best Facts about Charlotte Gainsbourg


 

Charlotte Lucy Gainsbourg was born on 21 July 1971 in the Marylebone area of Central London. She is a British-French actress and singer and the daughter of English actress and singer Jane Birkin and French musician Serge Gainsbourg.

Charlotte’s parents were a famous couple at the time of her birth. They had made headlines several years earlier with a sexually explicit song. They also had an erratic turbulent relationship.

Gainsbourg was raised in Paris alongside her half-sister, Kate Berry from her mother’s marriage to composer John Barry.

At the age of 12 years, Gainsbourg made her musical debut and recorded ‘Charlotte for Ever’ an album of tracks written by her father.

Gainsbourg has endured a lot of difficulties in her life due to her parents’ troubled relationship and separation.

Here are the top 10 best facts about Charlotte Gainsbourg:

1. Charlotte Gainsbourg Made her Music Career Debut at the Age of 12

Gainsbourg made her musical debut with the controversial song Lemon Incest in 1984. The song elicited many reactions as she sang with her father about what seemed to be a pedophiliac relationship between a father and daughter.

The song was banned in several countries which deemed the song autobiographical. She then released her debut album ‘Charlotte for Ever’ which was produced by her father In 1986.

The daughter-father duo then went on to release a number of songs that were well received by the audience around the globe.

2. Gainsbourg Waited for 20 Years before Recording her Second Album

File:Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg 1, Inauguration of Jardin Serge-Gainsbourg.jpg

photo by Olivier Pacteau from Wikimedia

Gainsbourg released her first album ‘Charlotte for Ever’ in 1986 which was a collection of songs written by her father.

In 2006, she recorded her second album titled ‘5.55’ that reached the top of the French music charts, earning platinum status. The album was a moderate success in the United Kingdom as well.

Gainsbourg also starred in Michel Gondry’s sci-fi film ‘The Science of Sleep’ in the same year. Gainsbourg attributed the twenty-year break between her debut album and second album to the death of her father.

3. Gainsbourg Met her Long-time Partner  Yvan Attal while Filming

Charlotte is living with her long-time partner Yvan Attal, a French-Israeli actor/director whom she met on the sets of ‘Aux Yeux du monde’ in 1990.

 Although Attal proposed to Gainsbourg in 2013, they are yet to wed and have no plans to marry.

Interestingly in 1985, Gainsbourg worked on the ‘Temptation of Isabelle’ with her step-father Jacques Doillion and later in ‘Amoureuse’ in 1992 where her future longtime partner Yvan Attal starred.

4. Charlote Gainsbourg is Bilingual

Gainsbourg is perfectly bilingual, but in her typical self-deprecating style, she often says she doesn’t feel totally comfortable in English and that she lacks vocabulary.

She spoke French in her childhood as she was raised in Paris alongside her half-sister, Kate Barry, who later died in 2013 after falling out of a window.

However, her father did not speak English and her mother who was English did not want to create language confusion for her kids.

5. Charlotte Gainsbourg underwent Emergency Brain Surgery in 2007

File:Jane Birkin, Charlotte Gainsbourg 2, Inauguration of Jardin Serge-Gainsbourg.jpg

Photo by Olivier Pacteau from Wikimedia

Gainsbourg was hospitalized and underwent surgery for a cerebral hemorrhage. after sustaining an injury in a water-skiing accident On 5 September 2007.

she recalled not to have realized at the time the damage the accident has caused.

6. She collaborated with Beck on ‘IRM’, her 2010 CD

File:Charlotte Gainsbourg 1, Inauguration of Jardin Serge-Gainsbourg.jpg

photo by Olivier Pacteau from Wikimedia

In 2009, Gainsbourg released her third studio album, ‘IRM’ which was produced by Beck. One of the influential factors in the album’s creative process was her time spent filming ‘Antichrist’.

Gainsbourg’s head injury in 2007 influenced the title of the album ‘IRM’, an abbreviation for the French translation of magnetic resonance imaging (MIR).

Antichrist is a horror movie that earned her the Best Actress award at that year’s Cannes Film Festival.

7. Charlotte Gainsbourg’s fifth album ‘Rest’

Charlotte Gainsbourg worked for about four years with producer Sebastian Akchote on her fifth album, ‘Rest’.

The album with the theme of alcohol addiction is a reflection of her emotions after her half-sister Kate Barry’s and father Serge Gainsbourg’s deaths.

Her father Serge Gainsbourg descended into alcoholism after his separation from Jane Birkin and later died of a heart attack in 1991.

8. Charlotte Gainsbourg made her English-speaking Debut in a Film in 1993

Gainsbourg made her English-language debut in 1993, appearing as ‘Julie’ in her uncle Andrew’s film Birkin’s ‘The Cement Garden’.

The following year, she appeared in the French comedy ‘Grosse Fatigue’ and also made her stage debut in David Mamet’s play ‘Oleanna’ which premiered at Theatre de la Gaite-Montparnasse.

Madonna also featured her in the track  ‘What it feels like for a Girl’ from the music album she released in 2000.

9. Charlotte Gainsbourg Comes from a Family of Musicians and the Film Actors

File:Serge Gainsbourg par Claude Truong-Ngoc 1981.jpg

Photo by Claude TRUONG-NGOC from Wikimedia

Charlotte Gainsbourg’s father was a musician and her mother is an actor and singer from the United Kingdom.

Gainsbourg’s maternal grandmother was actress Judy Campbell, and her uncle is a screenwriter and film director.

She is a cousin of theatre and opera director Sophie Hunter and herstep-father Jacques Doillon is also a film director.

Her long-time partner Yvan Attal is an actor and director in the film industry.

10. Charlotte Gainsbourg had Great Music and Film Success in 2010

In 2010, she starred in ‘The Tree’, a French-Australian production. Starbucks iTunes ‘Pick of the Week’ listed her track ‘Heaven Can Wait’ in the same year. 

Her song ‘Trick Pony’ featured in Grey’s Anatomy’s episode titled ‘Perfect Little Accident’ which aired in the same year. 

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