Brigitte Nielsen

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Birth name Gitte Nielsen
Nationality Danemark
Birth 15 july 1963 (60 years) at Rødovre (Danemark)

Brigitte Nielsen (born Gitte Nielsen; 15 July 1963) is a naturalized-Italian, Danish-born actress, model, singer, and reality television personality who began her career modelling for Greg Gorman and Helmut Newton and several years later acted in the 1985 films Red Sonja and Rocky IV. She is also known for her marriage to Sylvester Stallone, with whom she starred in the 1986 film Cobra. She played Karla Fry in Beverly Hills Cop II (1987), co-starring Eddie Murphy, and played the Black Witch in the Italian film series Fantaghiro between 1992–1996.

Nielsen's exploits were well-covered in the entertainment media in the 1980s, and the world press started referring to her as an "Amazon" because of her tall stature. She later built a career starring in B-movies and hosting TV shows, and in the 2000s, for appearing on reality shows. In 2008, she appeared on the reality show Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which depicted her and several other celebrities dealing with recovery from drug and alcohol addiction. In 2012 she won the 6th season of Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!, the German version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! and received the most calls from TV viewers throughout the entire show, ranking No.1 with 30 – 50% of all call-ins. Nielsen released music between 1987–2002 reaching the UK, Dutch, Austrian, German and Spanish charts with her singles.

Biography

Besides her native Danish, Nielsen is fluent in Norwegian, Swedish, English, German and Italian, and has some understanding of French.

Family and relationships

Nielsen has been married five times and has four sons. She has a son, Julian Winding (born in 1984), with her first husband, Kasper Winding, to whom she was married from 1983–84. Nielsen married actor Sylvester Stallone, on 15 December 1985 at the Beverly Hills, California home of producer Irwin Winkler. Stallone and Nielsen's marriage lasted 19 months, with their divorce finalized July 1987. Her second child, Killian Marcus Gastineau (born in 1989), she had with ex-fiance Mark Gastineau.

Between 1990 and 1992, she was married to director and photographer Sebastian Copeland (Orlando Bloom's cousin). Nielsen has two sons with fourth husband Raoul Meyer, Douglas Aaron (born in 1993) and Raoul, Jr. (born in 1995). Her current husband, Mattia Dessi, lived with her in Italy as shown on Strange Love, which was filmed prior to their marriage. As of 2010, they live in Palm Springs, USA.

In 1987, Nielsen confessed to an affair with Tony Scott. In 2005, she had a highly publicized relationship with rapper Flavor Flav. In the aftermath of Arnold Schwarzenegger's infidelity scandal, Nielsen confessed that she also had an affair with him while he was in a relationship with Maria Shriver. In January 2012, during an interview on the German Reality TV-Show Ich bin ein Star – Holt mich hier raus!, she confessed once having a one-night stand with Sean Penn in Cannes.

Alcohol problems
On 9 July 2007, Nielsen checked herself into the Cri-Help rehabilitation facility in North Hollywood following what some reports claim was a family intervention. Her manager, Steven Tempone, confirmed on 19 July 2007 that she had checked into rehabilitation and told the Associated Press, "All I know is it's something she did of her own free will and we're proud of her and wish her very well... When she gets out we'll have a big birthday party, and Coca-Cola only." As of 22 July 2007, Nielsen was out of rehabilitation to attend the Comedy Central roast of Flavor Flav. She told People that she felt "like a new-born person ... I made a choice about a new life. It's not been easy but it was definitely time." While People does not report the date that Nielsen checked into rehabilitation, it states she "had been in treatment for a few weeks."

On 10 January 2008, VH1 began airing the reality TV series, Celebrity Rehab. Nielsen appeared on the show for alcoholism. In a January 2010 TV Guide story on her success with sobriety, Celebrity Rehab producer John Irwin stated, "She's sober, and she quit smoking. She's doing crazy good."

Plastic surgery
In mid-2008, Nielsen starred in the reality show Aus alt mach neu, broadcast by the German TV-station RTL. The theme of the show was Nielsen's attempt to look "as young as her husband" by undergoing plastic surgery. The show was aired in Italy as well, on SKY Italia during December 2008 and the following summer on Italia 1.