French writer Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, better known as Colette, was BOTD in 1873. Born in Burgundy to a military family, she married the writer Henry Gauthier-Villars when she was 20. A notorious womaniser 14 years her senior, Villars encouraged her lesbian affairs and introduced her to Paris literary circles. Her first four novels, soft-core pornography about a promiscuous bisexual schoolgirl named Claudine, were written under Villars’ supervision and published in his name. Following their separation, Colette made a living as a music hall performer before turning to journalism. In 1906, she began a relationship with the cross-dressing aristocrat Mathilde de Morny, living together in the Belle Plage villa. The following year, they staged a pantomime Rêve d’Égypte (Dream of Egypt) at the Moulin Rouge, sharing a kiss during a simulated lesbian love scene. The scene caused a public scandal, forcing the early closure of the show and requiring them to live more discreetly. The success of her 1910 novel The Vagabond, her first work published under her own name, made her a literary star. Newly wealthy, she divorced Gaultier-Villars and purchased Rozven manor at Saint-Coulomb, where she and de Morny lived together until their separation in 1911. The following year, Colette married editor Henry de Jouvenel, with whom she had a daughter. Her 1920 novel Chéri, a romance about a wealthy courtesan who loses her much younger lover to marriage, was partially based on her affair with her 16 year-old stepson. Her play Gigi, became a hit play starring then then-unknown Audrey Hepburn, who Colette personally selected for the role. A successful musical film version followed in 1958, starring Leslie Caron. Hailed as France’s greatest woman writer, Colette was also well-known for her androgynous appearance, frequently dressing in men’s suits. She died in 1954 aged 81. She has been portrayed several times onscreen, most recently by Kiera Knightley in a 2018 biopic. 

She had relationships with society hostess Natalie Clifford Barney