What Happened To Former Pornographic Actress, Brigitte Lahaie?

Brigitte Lahaie is a former pornographic film actress who currently works as a French radio talk host. She was a sensation in the erotic genre between 1976 and 1980, earning a spot in the XRCO Hall of Fame. Aside from her adult film appearances, the actress also acted in some mainstream movie projects.

Where is Brigitte Lahaie and what happened to her?

Before her transition to mainstream movies, Brigitte acted in nearly one hundred X-rated movies, making her one of the first and most famous porn actresses in France after the legalization of porn movies in the country. Brigitte began acting porn in 1976 and continued until 1980.

From 1980 onwards, Brigitte started acting in regular movies before eventually retiring from acting several years later. She was a radio talk show host with RMC before her show ended in 2016 and now lives alone with her horses and dogs in a country estate about 60 km west of Paris.

Early life and family background

Brigitte Lahaie was born Brigitte Lucille Janine Van Meerhaegue on October 12, 1955, under the birth sign of Libra. Brigitte was born in Tourcoing, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France, where she spent most of her formative and teenage years before leaving home at 20. The exact identity of Brigitte’s family members, such as their names, is not exactly known.

Brigitte grew up in her hometown with 2 brothers and a sister. Her position amongst her siblings is not public knowledge, but they were all raised by a father who was a banker and a mother who was an accountant. With regards to her educational qualifications, there are no available records to accurately pinpoint where Brigitte had her formal basic education. Although, one can come to the conclusion that she had no higher form of education because she left home to become a shop-girl in Paris.

Brigitte Lahaie acted in several pornographic movies

Brigitte made the decision to go along with her sister to Paris when she was just 20 years old. To survive, she became a salesgirl at a shoe store. She put in her best and always received commendations for her impeccable customer service. However, she entered people’s consciousness not only based on her actions and services but also because of the way she looked.

The young Brigitte was quite beautiful and had the right curves in the right places. Her physique was primarily what drew the attention of several erotic magazines to her. Soon she was being accosted with requests to pose naked for some of these companies. The money was far better than what she earned as a shoe salesgirl and she didn’t hesitate to grab the opportunity to elevate her financial status and standard of living.

It was 1975, just a year before hardcore pornography gained legal status in France. Lahaie who already had a taste of using her well-structured body to earn good money had no compunction about taking her already blossoming career as an actress to the next level in the adult film industry.

As stated earlier, she was one of the foremost and most famous performers in the now legalized hardcore porn film industry. She made up to 100 pornographic film appearances from 1976 to 1980, a testament to how talented she was and how in awe of her most producers were at the time.

How the porn actress made a gradual transition to mainstream acting

Brigitte Lahaie on a movie set image source

Before her full transition to conventional acting in 1980, one of the directors she had worked with while active in the adult film industry, Jean Rollin, approached her with a role in his upcoming horror film project, Le Raisins de la Mort (Grapes of Death) (1978). Jean had obviously enjoyed working with the actress, who he said had impressed him greatly during the production of their 1976 porn film, Vibrations Sensuelles (Sensual Vibrations).

French film lovers got their first taste of the horror genre with Grapes of Death and loved every bit of it with Brigitte playing a huge role in its success. This led Jean Rollin to offer her a more prominent role as the lead character in his next horror film, Fascination (1979).

These changes to her routine convinced Brigitte to finally call it a day with porn in1980. From that time going forward, she made it a point of duty to only appear in conventional movies. Her first was I as in Icarus – a 1979 drama/mystery movie. For A Cop’s Hide followed the next year and she has acted in a lot of mainstream film productions since her first appearance in 1980.

The 68-year-old former porn star has built a name that will not easily be forgotten in the French movie scene for her masterful performances both as a porn star and as a mainstream film actress. In 2014, she was inducted into the XRCO Hall of Fame.

Brigitte Lahaie wrote several books

Obviously a woman of many talents, Brigitte was determined to explore every aspect of her artistic capabilities. She wasn’t just content to be an actress and in a bid to share her life experiences with a wider audience, she published her autobiography in 1987.

A pop single followed and after several guest appearances on radio programs and events, Brigitte finally got the opportunity to host her own radio program. The program which dealt with human sexuality and complexities in relationships gained a huge following and the producers commended Lahaie for her efforts at the end of her time with them in 2016.

Brigitte is not married

After many years in the spotlight, Brigitte’s days currently end with her going home to her horses and dogs at her country estate home. The former porn actress is currently single and although she was once in a relationship that produced 2 sons, the only information available with regards to her partner is that his first name is Patrick.

The identity of Brigitte’s sons is probably one she has no interest in sharing with the public.

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Brigitte Lahaie believes that some women enjoy being raped

It was a statement that caused a major uproar and divided opinion. Brigitte had stated that some victims of sexual violence and rape actually achieve orgasm during the act. This statement had been made in the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal after the actress had been part of 100 women who had signed a petition condemning what they labeled puritan persecution of men.

The former actress faced the ire of many members of the public and even some of her co-signatories after she made the statements on live TV during a debate. In her defense, the 68-year-old resurfaced to point out that her statement had been misunderstood by the people who were about to crucify her for speaking her mind. She, however, wouldn’t apologize for what she tagged as unfortunate but true facts about certain women enjoying the inhumane act of rape.