Actress who made public her HIV status has died aged 53

Actress who made public her HIV status has died aged 53

Charlotte Valandrey - Instagram Charlotte Valandrey

The actress Charlotte Valandrey who made public her HIV status back in 2005 died on Wednesday, July 13 according to her agent.

The French actress who had to cut short her career as a result of her heart condition and HIV infection was well known for her role in the 1985 film Rouge Baiser.

She was perhaps better known for her bestselling autobiography L’Amour dans le sang (Love in the blood) which was later adapted for TV.

In 2008, Valandrey suffered a heart attack after which she underwent a triple bypass. She later had a heart transplant but said on Instagram back in June that her heart was coming to the end of its life and that she would need a third.

Her family said in a statement: “On June 14, Charlotte had to have emergency surgery to replace her ‘second-hand heart’ as she called it, but this new transplant did not take, this third heart did not live.”

Valandrey was just 17 when she appeared in Rouge Baiser playing Nadia a young communist rebel whose ideals are put to the test after a romantic encounter. Not two years later and before her 18th birthday she learned that she had contracted HIV.

She never revealed where she contract HIV other than to say “With a gothic prince.” That relationship with a band member saw her career come to an end with promises made by film directors coming to nothing.

The actress will be more remembered for her illness and her HIV status than she will for her films after she died at the age of 53.  


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Written by

Peter McLaren-Kennedy

Originally from South Africa, Peter is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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