Liane de Pougy (1869 – 1950), was a Folies Bergère dancer renowned as one of Paris’s most beautiful and notorious courtesans.
She was born in La Flèche and raised in a nunnery. At the age of 16, she ran off with a naval officer, marrying because she was pregnant. He turned out to be a brute and the marriage ended. Hence, she began dabbling in acting and prostitution and it is now known that she was a heavy user of both cocaine and opium.
She began her career as a courtesan with the Countess Valtesse de la Bigne.
After moving to Paris, from her position at the Folies she became a noted demimondaine, and a rival of “La Belle Otero”. She took her last name from one of her paramours, a Comte or Vicomte de Pougy.
Upon her marriage to Prince Georges Ghika on June 8, 1910 she became Princess Ghika; this marriage ended in separation, though not divorce. Her son’s death as an aviator in World War I turned her towards religion and she became a tertiary of the Order of Saint Dominic as Sister Anne-Mary. She became involved in the Asylum of Saint Agnes, devoted to the care of children with birth defects. She died at Lausanne, Switzerland
Liane de Pougy, 1900s via
Paul Nadar, Liane de Pougy, 19th century via
Liane de Pougy, 19th century via
Nadar, Liane de Pougy, 1900s via
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