Jane Birkin's Daughters Help Carry Coffin at Public Funeral in Paris: 'She Is Our Mother'

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France's first lady Brigitte Macron and singer Vanessa Paradis were among the high-profile attendees

<p>JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty </p> Jane Birkin

Friends, family and fans are bidding farewell to Jane Birkin, who died on July 16 at age 76.

On Monday, fans gathered around the streets of Paris’ Saint-Roch Church to join friends and family in honoring the late singer and actress. Birkin's daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon carried their mother's coffin on their shoulders up the steps of the building, Women's Wear Daily reported.

As they carried the coffin, Birkin's 1983 song “Fuir le bonheur de peur qu’il ne se sauve” (“Running away from happiness lest it run away”) played.

<p>Sipa via AP Images</p> Jane Birkin's funeral on July 24, 2023 in Paris, France

Sipa via AP Images

Jane Birkin's funeral on July 24, 2023 in Paris, France

During the service, Gainsbourg, 52, gave a short speech in which she choked up.

"I see all your souls in pain without her,” she said, per WWD. “I can already see the void she has left in us. She is my mother, she is our mother."

<p>AP Photo/Thomas Padilla</p> Jane Birkin's daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon

AP Photo/Thomas Padilla

Jane Birkin's daughters Charlotte Gainsbourg and Lou Doillon

Related: Jane Birkin, Singer, Actress and Inspiration Behind the Hermès Bag, Dead at 76

Meanwhile, Doillon shared several memories and anecdotes about her mother with the audience.

“Thank you for all these adventures, thank you for not having been ordinary, reasonable or docile. The world of tomorrow, very peaceful and reasoned, it already upsets me,” Doillon, 40, said.

Fans watched the ceremony on a large screen outside the church and Birkin's songs played outside before it began. They also held banners reading "Jane Forever" and "Thank you Jane Birkin."

<p>Sipa via AP Images</p> Brigitte Macron was among the mourners.

Sipa via AP Images

Brigitte Macron was among the mourners.

France’s first lady Brigitte Macron and minister of culture Rima Abdul Malak were among the high-profile attendees. Film star Catherine Deneuve and singer Vanessa Paradis were also in attendance.

As the ceremony came to an end, the audience assembled outside the church broke into song and a loud applause. Birkin was moved to the cemetery  of Montparnasse in the south of Paris, where she will be buried next to ex Serge Gainsbourg and her daughter Kate Barry, who died in 2013 at age 46.

Birkin's death was confirmed by the French Ministry of Culture in a tweet, calling her a “timeless French-speaking icon.”

Related: Jane Birkin, Style Icon and Namesake of the Hermès Bag, Ensured Her Legacy of Fashion and Charity Will Continue

The beloved actress’ cause of death is not yet known but, according to ABC News, the actress has been plagued with health issues in recent years — including a stroke in 2021 and a broken shoulder blade earlier this year — which have kept her from performing and appearing publicly.

<p>AP Photo/Thomas Padilla</p> Vanessa Paradis was among the mourners.

AP Photo/Thomas Padilla

Vanessa Paradis was among the mourners.

Aside from her work as a singer and actress, she was also a fashion icon in France in the 1960s and ‘70s, inspiring the creation of one of the most expensive and highly sought-after luxury bags in the world — the Birkin bag by French luxury design house Hermès.

French president Emmanuel Macron praised the actress in a tribute on Twitter following her death, writing, “Because she embodied freedom, because she sang the most beautiful words of our language, Jane Birkin was a French icon.”

He continued, “A complete artist, her voice was as sweet as her engagements were fiery. She bequeaths us tunes and images that will never leave us.”

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