Probably a more accurate way to put the question is this: Of the dozens and dozens of big-name stars who populated French cinema and magazines from 1975 through the early 80s, why is Brigitte Lahaie the only one who didn’t disappear into anonymity?
Many of the stars who were omnipresent in those years have since purposefully tried to hide their “porn past” (actresses like Danielle Corneveaux and Marie-Claude Viollet went so far as to threaten EGAFD and other “indexing” sites with legal action to have their names removed; an editor of one porn site, familiar with the threatened lawsuit, suggested that Viollet had “married a very important and influential businessman”). Some continued in the Paris “sex scene” (off-camera) for years or even moved into legitimate theater (Emmanuelle Parèze), “T&A” B-movies and TV commercials (Jane Baker, Karine Gambier) before retiring. One tried a “comeback” of sorts by writing a tell-all memoir (Erika Cool) and of course some died young (Cathy Grenier, Marianne Aubert). A few still appear in person at film events or book launches (both Nicole Segaud and Marilyn Jess attended the publisher’s launch of Richard Allan’s memoir some years ago). But the many, many others who seemed to be everywhere back in the ‘80s (Cathy Menard, Martine Semo, Carole Pierrac, Flore Sollier, Catherine Gentil, Danielle Troeger France Lomay, Laura Miles, Sigried Cellier, Denise Lascene, Marianne Flowers, Daniele Azzalini, Veronique Maugarski, etc etc etc), have “disappeared into the crowd” without a trace.
In many cases (as Erika Cool states in her memoir mentioned above) these girls were either Parisian-area hookers or escorts (or “artist models”, which is sometimes the same thing...) or impoverished students, who were making some extra cash in movies and magazines that could only be viewed or purchased (back in those days) in specialty “adult” cinemas and shops. They never could imagine that, 40 years later, their “past” would reappear on the internet. Some were smart enough to use fake names (even several fake names) but many of them used their real name. Most of them will have since married, raised a family, by now have grandchildren, and are probably mortified that, by simply googling their name, their past resurfaces. As the jacket copy of Cool’s memoir states, “35 years after her last porn movie, Erika Cool is still haunted by her past. Although she is already over age 60, and is making a new career as the director of a real estate agency, she is still a 'femme fatale' for many. You only have to google her to see the images and photos from her previous life.”
So—assuming Perrin is still alive and well, as we all hope—she has probably tried very hard to “put her porn past behind her” and disappear from discovery.
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