54 Facts About Jeanne Calment

Jeanne Calment's longevity attracted media attention and medical studies of her health and lifestyle.

Jeanne Calment was born on 21 February 1875 in Arles, Bouches-du-Rhone, Provence.

Jeanne Calment's older brother, Francois, lived to the age of 97; her father, Nicolas, who was a shipbuilder, lived to be 93 years of age; and her mother, Marguerite Gilles, who was from a family of millers, lived to be 86 years of age.

On 8 April 1896, at the age of 21, Jeanne married her double second cousin, Fernand Nicolas Calment.

Jeanne Calment had reportedly started courting her when she was 15, but Jeanne was "too young to be interested in boys".

Jeanne Calment employed servants and never had to work; she led a leisurely lifestyle within the upper society of Arles, pursuing hobbies such as fencing, cycling, tennis, swimming, rollerskating, playing the piano, and making music with friends.

Jeanne Calment gave birth to her only child, a daughter named Yvonne Marie Nicolle Calment, on 19 January 1898.

Yvonne died of pleurisy on 19 January 1934, her 36th birthday, after which Jeanne Calment raised Frederic, although he lived with his father in the neighbouring apartment.

Jeanne Calment said that German soldiers slept in her rooms but "did not take anything away", so that she bore no grudge against them.

In 1965, aged 90 and with no heirs left, Jeanne Calment signed a life estate contract on her apartment with civil law notary Andre-Francois Raffray, selling the property in exchange for a right of occupancy and a monthly revenue of 2,500 francs until her death.

Raffray died on 25 December 1995, by which time Jeanne Calment had received more than double the apartment's value from him, and his family had to continue making payments.

Jeanne Calment commented on the situation by saying, "in life, one sometimes makes bad deals".

In 1996, Time's Mistress, a four-track CD of Jeanne Calment speaking over musical backing tracks in various styles, including rap, was released.

In 1986, Jeanne Calment became the oldest living person in France at the age of 111.

Jeanne Calment's profile increased during the centennial of Vincent van Gogh's move to Arles, which occurred from February 1888 to April 1889 when she was 13 and 14 years old.

Jeanne Calment claimed to reporters that she had met van Gogh at that time, introduced to him by her future husband in her uncle's fabric shop.

Jeanne Calment remembered that van Gogh gave her a condescending look, as if unimpressed by her.

Jeanne Calment described his personality as ugly, ungracious, and "very disagreeable", adding that he "reeked of alcohol".

Jeanne Calment said that she forgave van Gogh for his bad manners.

Jeanne Calment was recognised by The Guinness Book of Records as the world's oldest living person in 1988, when she was 112.

However, the Gerontology Research Group has since then validated the age of Easter Wiggins, meaning that in reality Jeanne Calment became the world's oldest living person in 1990.

Several claims to have surpassed Jeanne Calment's age were made, but none have ever been proven.

Jeanne Calment was asked questions about documented details concerning relatives, and about people and places from her early life, for instance teachers or maids.

One report claimed that Jeanne Calment recalled selling coloured pencils to Vincent van Gogh, reportedly remembering him later as "dirty, badly dressed and disagreeable", and seeing the Eiffel Tower being built.

Jeanne Calment reportedly ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to a diet rich in olive oil.

Demographers have highlighted that Jeanne Calment's age is an outlier, her lifespan being several years longer than the next oldest people ever documented, where the differences are usually by months or weeks.

In 2018, Russian gerontologist Valery Novoselov and mathematician Nikolay Zak revived the hypothesis that Jeanne Calment died in 1934 and her daughter Yvonne, born in 1898, assumed her mother's official identity and was therefore 99 years old when she died in 1997.

Young is said to have found that "a very solid case that Jeanne Calment was 122 years has already been made" but that biosampling was still needed to test "for biomarkers of extraordinary longevity".

Since Jeanne Calment had 16 distinct great-great-grandparents while her daughter Yvonne had only 12, geneticists have noted that the question of identity could easily be settled by a test for autozygous DNA if a blood or tissue sample were to be made available.

Jeanne Calment married at 21, and her husband's wealth allowed her to live without working.

Jeanne Calment's husband introduced her to smoking, offering cigarettes after meals, but she did not smoke outside these post-meal occasions.

Jeanne Calment continued smoking in her elderly years until she was 117.

Jeanne Calment lived on her own from age 88 until shortly before her 110th birthday, when she decided to move to a nursing home.

Jeanne Calment's move was precipitated by the winter of 1985 which froze the water pipes in her house and caused frostbite to her hands.

Jeanne Calment's exercises included flexing and stretching the hands, then the legs.

Jeanne Calment's breakfast consisted of coffee with milk and rusks.

Jeanne Calment washed herself unassisted with a flannel cloth rather than taking a shower, applying first soap, then olive oil and powder to her face.

Jeanne Calment washed her own glass and cutlery before proceeding to lunch.

Jeanne Calment enjoyed daube, but was not keen on boiled fish.

Jeanne Calment had dessert with every meal, and said that given a choice she would eat fried and spicy foods instead of the bland foods on the menu.

Jeanne Calment made herself daily fruit salads with bananas and oranges.

Jeanne Calment enjoyed chocolate, sometimes indulging in a kilogram per week.

Jeanne Calment regularly prayed to and sought help from God and wondered about the afterlife.

Jeanne Calment stated that she had been vaccinated as a child but could not remember which vaccine.

Jeanne Calment did not contract German measles, chickenpox, or urinary infections, and was not prone to hypertension or diabetes.

Jeanne Calment scored well on mental tests, except on numeric tasks and recall of recent events.

At this stage, Jeanne Calment was still in good health, and continued to walk without a cane.

Jeanne Calment fell in January 1990 and fractured her femur, which required surgery.

Subsequently, Jeanne Calment used a wheelchair, and she abandoned her daily routine.

At the age of 115, Jeanne Calment attracted the attention of researchers Jean-Marie Robine and Michel Allard, who collaborated with her attending doctor, Victor Lebre, to interview her, verify her age and identify factors promoting her longevity.

Jeanne Calment's eyes were light grey, and her white hair had once been chestnut brown.

Jeanne Calment's cognitive functioning was observed to improve slightly over the six-month period.

Jeanne Calment reportedly remained "mentally sharp" until the end of her life.

Jeanne Calment died of unspecified causes on 4 August 1997 around 10:00am in her nursing home in Arles, France.