Bouquet’s troubled beauty
French actress Carole Bouquet has never fully come to terms with her beauty, says Robert Chalmers in the London Independent. The one-time “Bond girl” and star of such films as That Obscure Object of Desire, now 50, was raised by a distant, authoritarian f
French actress Carole Bouquet has never fully come to terms with her beauty, says Robert Chalmers in the London Independent. The one-time “Bond girl” and star of such films as That Obscure Object of Desire, now 50, was raised by a distant, authoritarian father whom Bouquet could never talk to about intimate matters. “I was never taught what femininity was. I learned it—or rather—I invented it, on my own,” she said. She hated the way men stared at her, and at 15, she cut her own face with scissors. “I tried to stop people looking at me by hurting myself. I gave myself scars; then they looked at me twice as much because they thought I was crazy.” Later, as her career took off, she was haunted by the fear that she landed parts because of her looks, not her talent. “I kept asking myself, Why do I deserve this part?” Such insecurity may explain her attraction to difficult and self-destructive men. Her first husband was the producer Jean-Pierre Rassam, who struggled with drug addiction and alcoholism. He died of an overdose in 1985. She later took up with Gérard Depardieu, who has had substance-abuse problems of his own. “These men, they are ogres. Life doesn’t satisfy them. Excess barely satisfies them,” she said. “People who have exercised great power, then lost it—I find them compelling.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
What should you be stockpiling for 'World War Three'?
In the Spotlight Britons advised to prepare after the EU tells its citizens to have an emergency kit just in case
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Carnivore diet: why people are eating only meat
The Explainer 'Meatfluencers' are taking social media by storm but experts warn meat-only diets have health consequences
By Elizabeth Carr-Ellis, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists want to fight malaria by poisoning mosquitoes with human blood
Under the radar Drugging the bugs
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published