Jeanne Calment was born on February 21, 1875, in Arles, France. She died on August 4, 1997, at the age of 122 years and 164 days — the longest verified human lifespan in history.
Her birth predates the invention of the telephone, the automobile, the airplane, and electricity in most homes. She remembered meeting Vincent van Gogh in 1888, when he came to her uncle's shop to buy art supplies. (She described him as "very ugly, ungracious, impolite, and sick.")
Her Life
- 1875: Born
- 1888: Met Vincent van Gogh in Arles
- 1896: Married Fernand Nicolas Calment
- 1924: Saw the unveiling of the Eiffel Tower (she was already 49)
- 1934: Daughter Yvonne died
- 1965: At age 90, signed a lifetime mortgage with a notary that he would inherit her apartment when she died. The notary died first, in 1995, having paid over twice the apartment's value
- 1985: Took up fencing at age 110
- 1992: Quit smoking at age 117 (she had smoked since age 21)
- 1997: Died at 122, the oldest verified person in history
Her Habits
Calment's lifestyle was decidedly not conventional health-pyramid material:
- Drank a glass of port wine almost daily
- Ate over 1 kg of chocolate per week
- Smoked from age 21 to 117
- Used olive oil on her skin and food
- Walked daily until age 100+
When asked the secret of her longevity, she said: "Always keep your sense of humor. That's what I attribute my long life to. I think I'll die laughing."
Recent Controversy
In 2018, Russian researchers proposed that Jeanne Calment was actually her daughter Yvonne, who took over her mother's identity for tax reasons after a family death. French gerontologists strongly disputed this. Multiple verification reviews have confirmed Calment's age, but the controversy persists in some circles.
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