Jane Mallory Birkin, OBE (born 14 December 1946) 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 Burma.

Biography

Birkin was married in 1965 to John Barry, the English composer best known for writing the music to numerous James Bond films and other films. They met when Barry cast Birkin in his musical Passion Flower Hotel. Their daughter, the late photographer Kate Barry, was born on 8 April 1967 and died on December 11, 2013. The marriage ended in 1968.



She had a passionate and creative relationship with her mentor Serge Gainsbourg, whom she met on the set of Slogan in 1968, a relationship that lasted 13 years. They never married, despite rumours and misreporting to the contrary. In 1971 they had a daughter, the actress and singer Charlotte Gainsbourg. They separated in 1980.

On 4 September 1982 she gave birth to her third daughter, Lou Doillon, from her relationship with the director Jacques Doillon. They separated in the 1990s. The Observer reported in 2007 that Doillon "could not compete with her grief for Gainsbourg" (who died in 1991), and that she had lived alone since their separation.


Philanthropy
Birkin's humanitarian interests led her to work with Amnesty International on immigrant welfare and AIDS issues. She has visited Bosnia, Rwanda, Palestine and Israel.

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