Married in the 1960s to John Barry, 13 years her senior, Jane Birkin was still a minor when she met her ex-husband. Interviewed on the show Tea or Coffee in April 2017, the actress who died on July 16, 2023 at the age of 76 spoke about this very unhappy union with this film music composer who died in 2011. Known for his contributions to the saga James Bond, John Barry met Jane Birkin during casting for the musical Passion Flower Hotel that he was showing in London with producer Gene Gutowski.
He had already been married once
“Why did you marry so young?” asked Catherine Ceylac. “Because there was no question of not getting married back then. Because mom thought I would be hurt if he left me. It was not possible to live with someone just [sans être mariés], when it was Swinging London and people did what they wanted. But not for me. He was 13 years older, he had already been married once, he had a child with the au pair… He really was a very dangerous person, that's what my parents thought, and rightly so. He was terribly attractive, a face a bit like Gustav Mahler, with his little glasses, in front of 80 musicians for his film scores… For me it was amazing that he fell in love with me, there were so many other girls in the musical. But there it was, it was me.”.
John Barry, a “very dangerous” man according to Jane’s parents
Still a minor at the time of her crush on John Barry, she added: “Finally I twisted his arm [je lui ai forcé la main, NDLR] et [mon père] let me get married. But for him, it was a disaster: firstly, I was doing theater like my mother, and secondly, I got married and left home at 17. But I was back to 20!“. She got married on October 16, 1965. She was 18 years old at the time. She gave birth to her daughter Kate on April 8, 1967 (died defenestrated on December 11, 2013 at age 46).
In his work Munkey Diariesthe mother of Kate Barry, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon also indicated that John Barry was a husband “absent, contemptuous and unfaithful”. As a reminder, Jane Birkin subsequently became a couple with Serge Gainsbourg (1968-1980, the father of Charlotte Gainsbourg then with the filmmaker Jacques Doillon (1980-1991) who is the father of Lou Doillon.
