Then one day his friend, Bernard Chapuis (former editor of Men’s Vogue), noticed Jean’s left eye twitching. Sadly, Jean’s prognosis wasn’t promising – they were hoping for some improvement with his digestion and respiration, or perhaps reach a point where he could “muster enough breath to make my vocal cords vibrate.” Jean turned a corner in the blink of an eyeĪt just 43 years old, Jean now had no way of communicating with the world. But he could still feel pain, ”my hands, lying curled on the yellow sheets, are hurting, although I can’t tell if they are burning hot or ice cold”. When Jean woke, he was completely paralysed as a result of a rare condition called locked-in syndrome which had been caused by a stroke.Īlthough he wasn’t able to move his body (apart from his left eyelid), his mind remained fully alert.įrom that point on, Jean wasn’t able to eat, swallow, or breathe without assistance. He was rushed to hospital where he slipped into a coma, where he remained for almost three weeks. One day in 1995, Jean and his son Théophile were enjoying a drive together, when suddenly Jean started seeing double. Jean-Do had a stroke and woke up with ‘locked-in syndrome’ He was married to Sylvie de la Rochefoucauld, and had two children, Théophile and Céleste – according to Céleste’s memory of her childhood, they enjoyed a very happy life. Jean-Do was known for his love of fast cars, good banter, high fashion, and fine foods.

Jean-Dominique Bauby (or Jean-Do as he was better known) was a vivacious, handsome and charismatic man with many talents.Īs well as heading up French fashion magazine, Elle, he could also list ‘actor’ and ‘author’ as professions on his impressive CV. Jean was Editor-In-Chief of glamourous fashion mag, Elle We think Jean-Dominique Bauby’s determination was pretty mind-blowing, so we’re sharing some of the most interesting facts about his life with you.

The diving bell and the butterfly novel