Liane de Pougy
The Courtesan Who Became A Princess
in 1869, Anne Marie Chassaigne, as she then was, was raised in a convent. Her parents arranged a marriage for her but she wasn’t keen and ran away with a naval officer, Armand Poupe. They married when she became pregnant and she had a son, Marco.
According to Liane, her husband beat her and abused her sexually. She sold their only possession – a rosewood piano – and ran away again leaving her son with her husband. He gave the boy to his parents to raise.
Liane de Pougy Becomes a Courtesan
Only eighteen, Liane decided to become a courtesan. She also sang a little and appeared in the chorus of the Folies Bergere. Always impressed with titles, the ambitious young woman named herself after a favoured client, the Comte de Pougy.
Beautiful and charming, Liane became a very successful courtesan. She was the equal of other well-known high-class 'grandes horizontales', such as Cora Pearl. Even Edward VII paid her attentions. She became quite wealthy. According to The New York Times, Liane ‘acquired a handsome house with magnificent furniture’ in Paris. She also owned houses in Brittany and St.Germain.
One of her clients, Count Vladimir Matlieff, showed her jewels worth a fortune. He asked her to choose from them. Liane couldn’t decide so the Count gave her all of the jewelry!
Liane de Pougy’s Affair With Natalie Barney
Liane was famously bisexual. She fell very much in love with the notorious lesbian, Natalie Barney, who was an American heiress. When Natalie’s father found out about the affair he threatened to disinherit her and ordered her to return to America. She refused. However Natalie was eventually unfaithful to her so the affair ended badly.
Liane returned to one of her former lovers, a Portuguese aristocrat. She wrote her novel, Idylle Sapphique, in revenge.
Liane de Pougy Marries Prince Ghika
She eventually married her own prince, the Romanian Prince Ghika. He was many years younger than her.
He had apparently come to her aid when she was laughed at because her hat was too big and even appeared in court charged with assault over this incident.
Unfortunately, the marriage didn’t last. The prince left her for a much younger woman.
Liane de Pougy Becomes A Nun
After her son was killed in the First World War Liane wrote her memoirs, My Blue Notebooks, and repented her ‘life of sin’ as a courtesan. She became a lay sister and worked at The Asylum of Saint Agnes, helping to care for disabled and abused children who had been abandoned.
She died in 1950 after a long and interesting life.
Source:
Souhami, Diana. Wild Girls: Natalie Barney and Romaine Brooks. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. London 2004
Liane de Pougy
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