You don’t know Farida Khelfa? Well, she’s a key figure in the world of fashion and screen. Actress, documentary filmmaker and French-Algerian former model, this gorgeous milf is one of the faces of French elegance.
For those who don’t know Farida Khelfa, she’s Léa Seydoux’s mother-in-law (by now, everyone knows). She’s also the ambassador of the famous Schiaparelli fashion house. She’s one of those French women who epitomize elegance, like Marion Cotillard.
Inspiration for the fashion world
She was and still is one of Jean-Paul Gaultier’s muses, “despite” her age. The two get on so well that she devoted a documentary to him in 2010. She did the same for Christian Louboutin in 2012. What we like about her are her minimalist outfits, which mix feminine and masculine codes. Yet you’ll often see her dressed in black, her favorite color, preferably with a white shirt. A timeless favorite.
Close to the Sarkozy family
This native of Lyon (May 23, 1960) started out in modeling and went on to become an actress. Wife of businessman Henri Seydoux, father of Léa Seydoux, Farida Khelfa is also a close friend of the Bruni-Sarkozy couple, with whom she enjoys a privileged relationship. In fact, she was the bride’s best man at their wedding. She is the mother of two children, Ismaël and Omer.
A fast career after running away
When she was 16, she went out to buy a baguette and never came back. She ran away from home and settled in Paris. The actress craved freedom. She took advantage of this to scour the palaces and clubs of Paris, where she met numerous fashion personalities. One thing led to another, and Farida Khelfa gradually built a modeling career, supported by Christian Louboutin, Jean Paul Gaultier and Azzedine Alaïa. She went on to become the face of numerous brands and even more famous people. Philippe Starck, Mick Jagger, Bernard-Henri Lévy and Bernadette Chirac all attended her wedding in 2012. To name but a few…
She escaped a forced marriage at the age of 14
Farida Khelfa isn’t only loyal in friendship. In love too. For eighteen years she has shared her life with Henri Seydoux, son of the head of Pathé and father of Léa Seydoux. Long opposed to marriage – in an interview with “Les Inrockuptibles” in December 2012, she explains that her parents tried to marry her off by force when she was 14 – she finally agreed to marry the father of her two sons, Ismaël and Omer. Their union was celebrated in September 2012 at Le Palace, with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy as best man. The story comes full circle.
On the movie front…
We have to go back to the 1980s to find the beginnings of the Frenchwoman’s acting career. At that time, Virginie Thévenet offered Farida Khelfa the opportunity to try her hand at the 7th art. The two women were reunited in 1985 for La nuit porte-jarretelles, followed two years later by Jeux d’artifices. Playing herself in Arielle Dombasle’s La traversée du désir in 2009, Farida Khelfa also appeared in Neuilly sa mère! the same year.
But what she really enjoys is stepping behind the camera. She did so in 2010 to share her point of view on key events of the time. She also took the opportunity in 2012 to follow President Nicolas Sarkozy in his private life with the documentary Campagne intime. Two years later, she made another documentary on Louboutin, her lifelong friend.
She still doubts her beauty
Despite all the accolades from the worlds of fashion, film and television, and being courted by many men, Farida Khelfa still doubts herself. She often says she’s ugly. Her smiling, self-confident face, legendary confidence and chatty personality conceal a lack of self-confidence. But her fierce gaze, wild beauty and haughty bearing have not escaped the notice of her creative friends. Farida was quick to assert her Algerian origins, and in the ’80s became an icon of French métissage. “At the time, I couldn’t say I was French. I needed to claim my origins loud and clear”, she confided to the Bondy Blog in 2009. She stands out from the Swedish models of the time.
