Brigitte Lahaie
Brigitte Vanmeerhaeghe, known as Brigitte Lahaie, is a French radio talk show host, mainstream film actress and former pornographic actress. She performed in erotic films from 1976 through 1980 and is a member of the XRCO Hall of Fame.
Early life and background
Brigitte Lucie Jeanine Vanmeerhaeghe was born in Tourcoing, France. She left home for Paris when 18 years old, where she started working as a shoe salesgirl. Soon, she was noticed for her physique and accepted a proposal to pose in the nude for erotic magazines.Cinema
Porn
She started working in the adult film industry in 1976, one year after the legalization of hardcore pornography in France, as "Brigitte Lahaie" and various others stage names. In her first film she was a body double for some of another actress' scenes.Lahaie eventually played in more than one hundred erotic films, most of them hardcore, directed by among many others, Claude Mulot, José Bénazéraf,,, and.
She chose to be listed as "Brigitte Lahaie" in most of them, her surname a transfer to French of her Flemish name "vanmeerhaeghe" which means "over the fence," since "la haie" is "the fence" in French.
Horror
While she was still working in the adult-movie industry, Jean Rollin, who had directed her in the porn film Vibrations Sensuelles in 1976, noticed Lahaie's "distinctly different personality," as he later recalled, and thought she had "incredible charisma." He offered her a role in his 1978 mainstream film, Les Raisins de la Mort, the first gore film produced in France, with Marie-Georges Pascal in the leading role. He then made her the protagonist of his next film, Fascination, in 1979.Mainstream
Lahaie appeared in I as in Icarus, which starred Yves Montand, playing a stripper, in For a Cop's Hide, which starred Alain Delon, in the role of a nurse. She continued to also make softcore and Nazi exploitation movies as well as "video nasties" during this time. In 1987, she played a singer in Michel Denisot's television special "La Plus Belle Nuit du Cinéma", transmitted from the Zénith.The same year, she recorded and released the single "Caresse tendresse".
According to a 2018 article in Sight & Sound about Jean Rollin, Lahaie plays in his La Nuit des Traquées the woman suffering from amnesia with "devastating effect," while she is credited with "lovely, open, untutored performances" for her work in Les Raisins and Fascination.
Lahaie acted in several other mainstream films, including Henry & June and Calvaire.
Books and radio
Throughout her career, Lahaie published several books, mostly autobiographical, as well as some novels. In the 2000s, she was often featured on the Les Grosses Têtes radio program, broadcast on RTL, while she was also, from 2001, the host of Lahaie, l'Amour et Vous on Radio Monte Carlo, a daily talk show from 14:00 to 16:00 that dealt mostly with love and sex. The show ended in 2016, with the station praising her work on the subject of sexuality as "unique" in terms of success and longevity.Personal life
Lahaie has two sons, with only the first name, Patrick, of her partner being known. She lives in a country estate, near Paris.She is a fan of equestrianism, an interest reportedly first inspired when she saw the film White Mane as a teenager. She commentated live on the equestrian events at the 2012 London Olympics for RMC.
Sexual violence and consent
In the aftermath of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the subsequent Me Too movement, one hundred women in France signed, on 9 January 2018, a public declaration in which they denounced what they claimed was a return to "puritanism" that "actually serves the interests of the enemies of sexual freedom, the religious extremists, the worst reactionaries." Lahaie was a co-signatory of that declaration, along with other celebrities such as Catherine Deneuve, Ingrid Caven, and Catherine Millet. Lahaie went on a TV debate the same evening, where she stated that women could have an orgasm when being raped. A few months later, in May, Lahaie stated, in interviews and on television, that her comment was "taken out of context," that she "does not regret ", and that she never supported non-consensual sex or violence of any kind against women.Filmography
Film
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1970 | Frissons africains | Credited as Brigitte Deslages English title: Africa Erotica | |
| 1977 | Jouir jusqu'au délire | Annie | |
| 1977 | Couples en chaleur | The saleswoman | |
| 1977 | Vibrations sexuelles | The psychiatrist | |
| 1977 | Suprêmes jouissances | Doris | English title: Exquisite Pleasure |
| 1977 | Les plaisirs fous | Claude | |
| 1977 | Chaleurs intimes | Anneer | Uncredited |
| 1977 | Sarabande porno | ||
| 1977 | Parties fines | Baroness Solange | Credited as B. Lahaye English title: Education of the Baroness |
| 1977 | Entrecuisses | Patricia | |
| 1977 | Cathy, fille soumise | Mélanie | |
| 1977 | C'est la fête à mon cul | ||
| 1977 | Arrête, tu me déchires | ||
| 1977 | La face cachée d'Hitler | ||
| 1977 | Je suis une belle salope | Marianne | English title: Illusions within Girls |
| 1978 | Rentre c'est bon | The cousin | |
| 1978 | Bordel SS | ||
| 1978 | Inonde mon ventre | Lise | English title: Night Fever |
| 1978 | Caresses Infernales | ||
| 1978 | Le bijou d'amour | Gordonna | |
| 1978 | La rabatteuse | Jocelyne | |
| 1978 | Touchez pas au zizi | Karen | |
| 1978 | Je suis à prendre | Hélène | English title: I'm Yours to Take |
| 1978 | Les grandes jouisseuses | Marianne | |
| 1978 | Étreintes | ||
| 1978 | Bouches expertes | Claudine | |
| 1978 | Cuisses infernales | Jocelyne | |
| 1978 | Chaude et perverse Emilia | ||
| 1978 | La mouillette | ||
| 1978 | Blondes humides | ||
| 1978 | Les raisins de la mort | The blond woman | Credited as Brigitte Lahaye English title: The Grapes of Death |
| 1978 | Prends-moi de force | Brigitte | |
| 1978 | Tout pour jouir | The make-up girl | English title: The Window of Pleasure |
| 1978 | Excès pornographiques | Marie-Christine | |
| 1978 | Ondées brûlantes | Brigitte | |
| 1978 | Langues cochonnes | English title: Sex Roulette | |
| 1978 | Festival érotique | ||
| 1978 | Viol, la grande peur | Veterinary student | Credited as Brigitte Lahaye |
| 1978 | La clinique des fantasmes | Marilyn Richards | English title: Rx for Sex |
| 1978 | Porno roulette | ||
| 1978 | Les chattes | English Title: Female Cats | |
| 1979 | La Vitrine du plaisir | ||
| 1979 | Le chouchou de l'asile | Chief warden | |
| 1979 | Couple cherche esclave sexuel | Barbara | English title: Serviced with a Smile |
| 1979 | New Generation | ||
| 1979 | Une femme spéciale | Uncredited | |
| 1979 | Je brûle de partout | Lorna | |
| 1979 | Estivantes pour homme seul | Mélanie | |
| 1979 | Anna cuisses entrouvertes | ||
| 1979 | Parties chaudes | Hélène | |
| 1979 | Photos scandale | Juliette | |
| 1979 | Auto-stoppeuses en chaleur | Denise, the girl who escapes | Credited as Brigitte Lahaye |
| 1979 | Soumission | Madam Clarisse | Credited as Brigitte Lahaye English title: The House of Fantasies |
| 1979 | La grande mouille | A hunter | English title: Hot and Horny |
| 1979 | Sechs Schwedinnen im Pensionat | Greta | |
| 1979 | Tremblements de chair | ||
| 1979 | Fascination | Eva | |
| 1979 | Pénétrez-moi par le petit trou | Christiane | |
| 1979 | Cette malicieuse Martine | A client of uncle | Credited as Brigitte Bordeaux |
| 1979 | I comme Icare | Ursula Hoffmann, stripper | English title: I as in Icarus |
| 1979 | L'histoire des 3 petits cochons | ||
| 1980 | Les petites garces | A swinger | |
| 1980 | Die Nichten der Frau Oberst | Julia | English title: Come Play with Me 2 |
| 1980 | Pénétrations méditerranéennes | Brigitte | |
| 1980 | Gefangene Frauen | Rita | |
| 1980 | Le retour des veuves | English title: Take Me Down | |
| 1980 | Ta gueule, je t'aime! | Ingrid | |
| 1980 | Le journal érotique d'une Thailandaise | Claudine | Credited as Brigette Lahaye English titles: Emanuele 3; Emmanuele 3 |
| 1980 | La Nuit des traquées | Elysabeth | English title: The Night of the Hunted |
| 1980 | Maîtresse pour couple | Brigitte | |
| 1980 | Sechs Schwedinnen von der Tankstelle | Greta | English title: High Test Girls |
| 1980 | Le coup du parapluie | Girl in the pool | Uncredited |
| 1980 | Les enfilées | The woman on the rotating bed | |
| 1980 | Les petites écolières | The school director | |
| 1980 | Le segrete esperienze di Luca e Fanny | Credited as Brigitte van Meerhaegue | |
| 1981 | Enquêtes | ||
| 1981 | Diva | The girl who escapes | Credited as Brigitte Simonin |
| 1981 | Parties très spéciales | ||
| 1981 | Deux gamines | Uncredited role | |
| 1981 | Body-body à Bangkok | ||
| 1981 | For a Cop's Hide | The nurse | Credited as Brigitte Simonin |
| 1981 | Si ma gueule vous plaît... | The stripper | Credited as Brigitte Simonin |
| 1981 | Les paumées du petit matin | Femme couple bourgeois | English titles: The Escapees; The Runaways |
| 1982 | Te marre pas... c'est pour rire! | Sandra | Credited as Brigitte Simonin |
| 1982 | Nestor Burma, détective de choc | Young girl at the party | Uncredited English title: Nestor Burma, Shock Detective |
| 1982 | Paul Raymond's Erotica | Brigitte | |
| 1982 | N'oublie pas ton père au vestiaire | Mother of the brat | Credited as Brigitte Simonin |
| 1982 | Julchen und Jettchen, die verliebten Apothekerstöchter | Jenny | |
| 1982 | Hot Action | ||
| 1982 | Electric Blue 5 | Fanny | Video |
| 1983 | Baisers exotiques | Elisabeth | |
| 1983 | Éducation anglaise | Henriette | |
| 1984 | La France interdite | ||
| 1985 | Brigade des mœurs | Credited as Brigitte Simonin | |
| 1985 | Joy et Joan | Joy | Alternative title: "Joan and Joy" |
| 1986 | L'exécutrice | Martine | |
| 1986 | Suivez mon regard | Woman forsaken | English title: Follow My Gaze |
| 1986 | Le couteau sous la gorge | Valérie Landis | |
| 1987 | On se calme et on boit frais à Saint-Tropez | Alexandra | |
| 1987 | Le diable rose | Naska / Lolita | |
| 1988 | Faceless | Nathalie | With Helmut Berger and Telly Savalas |
| 1988 | Dark Mission: Flowers of Evil | Mauria | |
| 1990 | Henry & June | Henry Miller's whore | With Fred Ward, Uma Thurman, Maria de Medeiros, Richard E. Grant and Kevin Spacey |
| 1995 | Electric Blue: Sex Model File #4 | Fanny | |
| 1997 | Les deux orphelines vampires | English title: The Two Orphan Vampires | |
| 1998 | Cornets in Time | ||
| 2002 | La fiancée de Dracula | She-wolf | English titles: Fiancée of Dracula; Dracula's Fiancée |
| 2004 | Calvaire | Miss Vicky | English title: The Ordeal With Laurent Lucas |
| 2009 | Quelque chose à te dire | Voice | |
| 2013 | Le bonheur | Dr Alice |
Television
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
| 1981 | Antoine et Julie | Television film Credited as Brigitte Simonin | |
| 1982 | Les brigades vertes | Television film | |
| 1983 | Au théâtre ce soir | The phone operator | Episode: "Je leur laisserai un mot" |
| 1983 | Le lavabo | Television mini-series | |
| 1987 | Cinéma 16 | The prostitute | Episode: "Johnny Monroe" |
| 1989 | Le triplé gagnant | Episode: "Le dernier rendez-vous du président" |
Short films
| Year | Title | Role |
| 1987 | Thérèse II La mission | Thérèse |
| 1993 | Illusions fatales | |
| 1999 | Les fourches caudines | |
| 2000 | La dame pipi |