Brigitte Nielsen

Biography

Brigitte Nielsen was born Gitte Nielsen on July 15, 1963 in Rødovre, Denmark. In 1979, she moved to France, then Italy, where she began her modeling career. In 1984, Italian producer 'Dino De Laurentiis' (qv) hired her for the lead in _Red Sonja (1985)_ (qv) with 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' (qv). The following year, she met 'Sylvester Stallone' (qv) and, in December 1985, married him. Meanwhile, she shot three other films: _Rocky IV (1985)_ (qv), _Cobra (1986)_ (qv) and _Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)_ (qv), directed by 'Tony Scott (I)' (qv), with 'Eddie Murphy (I)' (qv), 'Paul Reiser (I)' (qv) and 'Chris Rock (I)' (qv). In July 1987, Nielsen and Stallone divorced, and she recorded an LP called "Everybody Tells a Story" and sang "Body Next to Body" with 'Falco (I)' (qv). In the 1990s, she made quite a few films, including _976-Evil II (1991)_ (qv), _Fantaghirò 2 (1992) (TV)_ (qv) and its sequels, _The Double 0 Kid (1992) (V)_ (qv), _Chained Heat II (1993)_ (qv), _Galaxis (1995)_ (qv) with 'Sam Raimi' (qv), _Compelling Evidence (1995)_ (qv), _She's Too Tall (1999)_ (qv) with 'Corey Feldman (I)' (qv) and 'George Hamilton (I)' (qv), and _Doomsdayer (2000)_ (qv). In recent years, she has become interested in the music world, doing a duet with drag-queen 'RuPaul' (qv), "You're No Lady" (2002). She has four children: Julian (b. 1984), Killian (b. 1989), Douglas (b. 1993) and Raoul Jr. (b. 1995). She divides her residences between Milan, Italy and the United States. Actress, model, presenter and singer Brigitte Nielsen was born in Rødovre, a little place near Copenhagen in Denmark. At the end of high school when she was 16, Gitte (her given name) left her family to begin her modeling career. She worked for top fashion designers like 'Giorgio Armani (I)' (qv), 'Gianni Versace' (qv) and 'Gianfranco Ferré' (qv) and divided her time between New York, Paris, Milan and Berlin. In 1983, she married Danish musician 'Kasper Winding' (qv), and the year after, her first son Julian was born but, in the same period, acted in _Red Sonja (1985)_ (qv) and left her husband and son for an acting career. The film with 'Arnold Schwarzenegger' (qv) was successful and, in 1985, she also acted in _Rocky IV (1985)_ (qv) with her future husband, 'Sylvester Stallone' (qv). Stallone met Nielsen in the summer of 1985 during _Red Sonja (1985)_ (qv)'s promo and, after six months, they married in Malibu. After 19 months, another film together _Cobra (1986)_ (qv) and many scandals, Gitte and Sly divorced. In 1987, Brigitte acted in _Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)_ (qv) and went to Italy where she worked in a big Italian television show called _"Festival" (1987)_ (qv), recorded a dance album, "Every Body Tells a Story", and a pop music single, "Body Next to Body" with Austrian singer 'Falco (I)' (qv). In January 1988, she met football player 'Mark Gastineau' (qv) in an Los Angeles gym and soon she was in love with him. In December 1989, her second son, Killian, was born but the relationship with Gastineau finished. In 1990, Nielsen married the photographer/director 'Sebastian Copeland' (qv) ('Orlando Bloom' (qv)'s cousin) in Las Vegas and recorded another album called "I'm the One...Nobody Else". In 1992, when her third marriage was finished, Brigitte met Swiss/Italian 'Raoul Meyer (I)' (qv) and married him in December 1993. The same year, her third son, Douglas Aaron, was born and Gitte also acted in some films such as: _The Double 0 Kid (1992) (V)_ (qv) with 'Seth Green (I)' (qv) and 'Wallace Shawn' (qv), _Fantaghirò 2 (1992) (TV)_ (qv), and in the erotic thriller _Chained Heat II (1993)_ (qv). Meanwhile, she also worked in European television and, in 1995, her last son, Raoul Jr. Ayrton (in memory of her friend 'Ayrton Senna (I)' (qv)) was born. Since then, Brigitte left her fourth husband and lives in Milan, Italy and in the United States. She continues to act in many films such as: _Codename: Silencer (1995)_ (qv), _Snowboard Academy (1996) (V)_ (qv), _Hostile Environment (1999)_ (qv) and _Doomsdayer (2000)_ (qv). She has also recorded some dance music singles: "No More Turning Back" and "You're No Lady". In 2004, she participated in three reality television shows, the Italian _"La talpa" (2004)_ (qv) (Celebrity Mole) and the American _"The Surreal Life" (2003)_ (qv) and _"Strange Love" (2005)_ (qv).