{"id":219881,"date":"2021-04-06T01:20:51","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T22:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/the-sexy-history-behind-frances-most-elite-brothel\/"},"modified":"2021-04-06T01:20:51","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T22:20:51","slug":"the-sexy-history-behind-frances-most-elite-brothel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/the-sexy-history-behind-frances-most-elite-brothel\/","title":{"rendered":"#The sexy history behind France&#8217;s most elite brothel"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;<strong>#The sexy history behind France&#8217;s most elite brothel<\/strong>&#8221;<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>The last throes of<em> la vie bordel <\/em>are revealed in new French drama \u201cMadame Claude.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Set in the 1960s, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/decider.com\/2021\/04\/03\/madame-claude-netflix-review\/\">this steamy, nudity- and bondage-filled Netflix biopic<\/a> chronicles the infamous French <em>madam<\/em> Fernande Grudet, who came to operate the world\u2019s most highly-sought brothels. The establishment boasted global clientele including political elites, foreign dignitaries and stars of Hollywood, such as John F. Kennedy, Marlon Brando and Libyan revolutionary Muammar Gaddafi.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy, who heard about the glamorous gals from his buddy Frank Sinatra, allegedly requested a type of call girl eerily similar to his own wife.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf JFK had a type, it was the wholesome, snooty, proper, preppy girl whose flaunted untouchability he could violate . . . girls like Jacqueline Bouvier,\u201d wrote William Stadiem, author of \u00a0\u201c<a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Madame-Claude-Secret-Pleasure-Privilege\/dp\/1250122384?tag=nypost-20\">Madame Claude: Her Secret World of Pleasure, Privilege, &amp; Power<\/a>.\u201d \u201cHere was a madam who specialized in exactly what JFK was after.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"still from Netflix's &quot;Madame Claude&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-17756102 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-2.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Grudet referred to her female sex workers as \u201cClaude girls.\u201d<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/femail\/article-9437035\/Film-Frances-famous-brothel-owner-Madame-Claude-premieres-Netflix.html\">The eventual \u201cQueen of Sex\u201d<\/a> was born on July 6, 1923, in Angers, France. However, her personal history comes with its own air of mystique. And few now can correct the record, as the self-mythologizing Madame Claude died at 92. <\/p>\n<p>In her 1994 memoir, \u201cMadam,\u201d Grudet claimed to have hailed from an aristocratic family and to have attended school at a convent, of all places. She also wrote that she had enlisted in the Resistance during the Nazi regime and survived an extermination camp. One tale claims that, in her heyday, she was called on by the CIA to help, uh \u2026 maintain goodwill between world leaders during the Paris Peace Accords. Sure, we\u2019ll call it that.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image is-style-default\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"294\" height=\"441\" alt=\"The real Madame Claude, Fernande Grubet.\" class=\"wp-image-17756990 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude.jpeg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=294 294w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 294px\"\/><figcaption>The real Madame Claude, Fernande Grudet.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Corbis\/VCG via Getty Images<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>Historians have been unable to verify much of these claims. In other statements, it\u2019s been said that Grudet had come from modest means, and fell into sex work when she moved to Paris in her mid-20s.<\/p>\n<p>By 1961, she had come to run the most exclusive prostitution network in Paris, and, incidentally, the world. \u201cThere are two things that people will always pay for: food and sex. I wasn\u2019t any good at cooking,\u201d she was <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/news\/article-3371581\/There-two-things-people-pay-food-sex-wasn-t-good-cooking-sex-secrets-France-s-famous-brothel-owner-Madame-Claude-supplied-prostitutes-JFK-Gaddafi-Marlon-Brando-took-grave.html\">reported to have said in an early biographical account<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>In the toney 16th arrondissement of Paris, Grudet managed hundreds of women and girls, dubbed \u201cClaudettes,\u201d as well as some men during her heyday, catering to a high-profile clientele who often pulled strings to keep her and her workers out of trouble with the law \u2014 among them Aristotle Onassis, the Shah of Iran, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan, Viceroy of India Lord Mountbatten and French banker Elie de Rothschild, whose family is one of the most powerful in the world.<\/p>\n<p>In his book, Stadiem recounted an ill-fated hookup between JFK and one of Grudet\u2019s women \u2014 a farce that led the then-president going door-to-door in the middle of the night in search of his midnight snack. (Turns out he was at the wrong building.)<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"still from Netflix's &quot;Madame Claude&quot;\" class=\"wp-image-17756158 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-4.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>During the French presidency of Val\u00e9ry Giscard d\u2019Estaing, Grudet was sought for 11 million francs in back taxes, and later jailed as a result of her evasion.<\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Naturally, a fair share of celebrities, famed artists and musicians also called on Grudet\u2019s services: Sinatra, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, Sammy Davis Jr., Groucho Marx and \u201cgolden-era\u201d Hollywood producer Darryl Zanuck.<\/p>\n<p>Madame Claude\u2019s reign was short-lived as center-right French president Val\u00e9ry Giscard d\u2019Estaing, elected in 1974, set out to shut down prostitution in Paris.<\/p>\n<p>When auditors came down on Grudet for 11 million francs in unpaid taxes, the madam fled to Los Angeles. Friend Sylvette Balland has said of her introduction to Grudet at a party in LA, \u201cIt was like meeting Al Capone,\u201d <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vanityfair.com\/style\/society\/2014\/09\/madame-claude-paris-prostitution\">according to Vanity Fair<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" alt=\"still from Netflix's &quot;Madame Claude&quot; \" class=\"wp-image-17756123 lazyload\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-5.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=300 300w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-5.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=640 640w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-5.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1280 1280w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-5.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1024 1024w, https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-5.jpg?quality=90&amp;strip=all&amp;w=2000 2000w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 1024px\"\/><figcaption>Following her heyday in the 1960s and early 70s, Grudet lived in and out of hiding to escape conservative French authorities. <\/figcaption><figcaption><span class=\"credit\">Netflix<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Grudet remained in hiding until 1986, returning to ride out a four-month jail sentence. Upon her release, she attempted to revive her once-thriving business, only to be caught and, later, convicted of pimping, jailed again.<\/p>\n<p>After the release of her 1994 memoir, Grudet soon slipped back into hiding, and spent the later part of her life reclusively, in the French Riviera, before her death in 2015. <\/p><\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMLG0nwswvr63Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">For forums sites go to <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/forum.buradabiliyorum.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Forum.BuradaBiliyorum.Com<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/news\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"2\" title=\"News\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News<\/a> articles, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/news\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News category.<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2021\/04\/05\/the-sexy-history-behind-frances-most-elite-brothel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;#The sexy history behind France&#8217;s most elite brothel&#8221; The last throes of la vie bordel are revealed in new French drama \u201cMadame Claude.\u201d Set in the 1960s, this steamy, nudity- and bondage-filled Netflix biopic chronicles the infamous French madam Fernande Grudet, who came to operate the world\u2019s most highly-sought brothels. The establishment boasted global clientele&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":219882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2021\/04\/madame-claude-3.jpg?quality=90&strip=all&w=1200","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[70897],"tags":[100812,77270,100960,32232,1377,71007],"class_list":["post-219881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-4-5-21","tag-biopics","tag-brothels","tag-france","tag-netflix","tag-scandals"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=219881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/219881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/219882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=219881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=219881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=219881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}