Lolo Ferrari

Lolo Ferrari, born Eve Valois (March 4, 1962 – March 5, 2000) was a French dancer and actress billed as "the woman with the largest breasts in the world", though their size was artificially achieved.

Background

Born in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France, she was raised in the resort town of La Baule in an intellectual but extremely dysfunctional family. When she was a child, her father was relocated causing the move to La Baule. Her mother abused little Eve constantly, saying she was no good and that no man would want her, even going as far to whip Eve after her husband left her and her children. As a teenager, she obtained a few modelling jobs. In 1988, she married Eric Vigne, a man 14 years older.

Appearance

Encouraged by her husband, Ferrari underwent numerous plastic surgery operations to create a 180-cm (71-inch) silicone-enhanced bust (22 enlargements, a Guinness world record)^[1]. The Guinness Book of Records says each of her breasts weighed 2.8 kg (6 lb 2 oz) and contained three litres of serum. She had to wear a specially engineered brassiere, and as a result of her many surgeries she suffered from a number of medical afflictions and lived with a heavy regimen of drugs.^[2] Her brassiere measurements have been given by various sources as 58F,^[3] 54G,^[4] and 54J.^[2] The question of whether Ferrari had the largest surgically enhanced breasts in the world was hotly debated. Adult film stars such as Chelsea Charms, Maxi Mounds and Minka have been reported with even larger surgically enhanced busts, which they gained through the use of string implants. Ferrari remains to this date the woman with the largest bust enhanced with standard silicone implants.

Cosmetic surgery

Procedures had by Ferrari were said to have included:

• 6 rhinoplasties
• 4 surgeries on her mouth
• Silicone injections to her forehead
• Silicone injections to both cheeks
• Silicone injections to the mouth
• 10–15 breast augmentations (implants)

Poster of the movie Camping Cosmos with Lolo in evening dress referring to Jane Mansfield.

Career

Adopting the stage name "Lolo", from a French slang word for breasts, along with "Ferrari" as a last name, she made a few pornographic films. Use of the Ferrari name (which she justified since it was her maternal grandfather's name) led to lengthy trademark infringement court battles with the Italian Ferrari automobile company when she tried to market a line of underwear called Ferrari Underwear and a Lolo Ferrari doll. In 1995, she caused a sensation at the Cannes Film Festival with the presentation of the movie Camping Cosmos by Jan Bucquoy and producer Francis De Smet during a boxmatch.

Lolo Ferrari before the poster of Mother Courage and Her Children in the summer of 1995 during the making of the movie Camping Cosmos

Ferrari used the publicity surrounding her appearance to obtain a regular role on the British Channel 4 television show Eurotrash. Ironically, when Channel 4 broadcast Miss Valois's obituary, it was transmitted with straight dubbing as a mark of respect. The media hype led to appearances on other European shows and work in cabaret shows doing a song and striptease act. Hoping to launch a pop music career, she recorded two singles, titled "Airbag Generation" and "Set Me Free", as well as two more singles, a Euro disco cabaret song called "Dance Dance Dance", and a cover of Thelma Houston's Euro disco hit, "Don't Leave Me This Way". Neither song was given a commercial release. However, Ferrari retained a cult-like following.

Death

On the morning of March 5 2000, the day following her 38th birthday, Ferrari was found dead at her home in Grasse in the Alpes-Maritimes département on the French Riviera, apparently the victim of a self-induced prescription drug overdose. According to statements made by Eric Vigne, her husband, who had found her body, she had been planning her own funeral, and a few days before her death had visited an undertaker and picked out a white coffin, saying she wished to be buried in a pink ballroom gown, with her favourite white teddy bear. Shortly before her death, Ferrari is said to have expressed interest in having her implants removed. She had also taken a lover, a Monaco police officer. Eric hired and paid for two girls named Audrey and Karine Jablecki to have silicone implants to extremely large sizes, dubbing them The Silicone Girls. They were to be Ferrari's backup singers, but ultimately replaced her.

Controversy

Vigne was later arrested owing to new evidence and apparent inconsistencies in his version of the events leading up to her death. For instance, the drugs in her stomach had not begun to enter her bloodstream, and her body showed signs of mechanically induced suffocation. Vigne stated that Ferrari had possibly rolled over while she was sleeping, causing her to be suffocated by her large breasts. This was not likely, however, as Lolo was purported to be a careful sleeper, even when under the influence of the multiple sleeping pills and anti-depressants she took. Vigne spent more than a year in prison before being released. Ferrari's mother, Catherine Valois, has been pressuring authorities to officially charge Vigne for the alleged murder. As of August 2007, no legal action has been taken.

Discography

• Airbag Generation (1996)
• Whatever Lolo Wants, Lolo Gets
• Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend
• Don't Leave Me This Way
• Set Me Free (2000 [Her death])

References

1. ^ (2003) Guinness World Records 2003. New York: Bantam Books. ISBN 0-553-58636-X. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Essential AA-Z of boob jobs", by Bella Battle, The Sun, 17 October, 2007. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
3. ^ "Beach bummer blaze-a-thon", by Amy Reiter, March 7, 2000, Salon.com. Retrieved 2007-11-16.
4. ^ "Lolo husband on murder charge". The Independent, March 2, 2002. FindArticles.com. Retrieved 2007-11-16.

External links

• BBC News obituary, March 6, 2000
• Collection of newspaper articles about the life and death of Lolo Ferrari, as well as the legal aftermath
• Site with the movie Camping Cosmos