Who are Jane Birkin’s children? From the tragic story of daughter Kate Barry to her model daughters

Late singer and model Jane Birkin left behind two daughters, after one tragically ended her life aged just 46. 

Birkin was the inspiration for the Hermes Birkin handbag, after fashion businessman Jean-Louis Dumas spoke to the actress and singer about her frustration at not being able to find a bag big enough for her daughter’s bottles during a flight from Paris to London in 1984. 

But tragedy struck the family when her eldest daughter Kate Barry, a fashion photographer, fell to her death from her fourth floor apartment in Paris in 2013.

Barry, whose resume included Vogue and The Sunday Times Magazine grew up in France, estranged from her father John. Instead, she was raised by Jane’s second partner Serge Gainsbourg.

Birkin’s second daughter Charlotte Gainsbourg is a musician and actress born in 1971, in London.

Jane Birkin, the iconic British singer and actress who maintained a love affair with French singer and ladies man Serge Gainsbourg, holding her children tightly

Charlotte Gainsbourg is a spitting image when stood next to her mother,  the iconic singer and actress who maintained a love affair with her father, the French singer Serge Gainsbourg

Style icon Lou Doillon pairs an oversized pinstripe blazer with a pair of matching trousers

The late star’s youngest, Lou Doillon, is a model and musician who has worked with the likes of Mango, H&M and Chloé.

Birkin’s first and only marriage – in 1965 – was to composer John Barry, noted for his scores in the James Bond films.

With him she had her first child, the late photographer Kate Barry, who is thought to have taken her own life after a long battle with depression in 2013.

She turned to drugs and alcohol in her youth before she plunged 80ft to her death in Paris, ending up in the high-end 16th arrondissement.

Kate Barry: the late daughter of Jane Birkin and English James Bond composer John Barry before her tragic death in 2013 where she jumped off her balcony following drug addiction

The fashion photographer founded the charity Aide et Prévention des Toxicodépendances par l’Entraide (APTE) in an effort to help others overcome addiction.

Jane shared her second child Charlotte with the controversial French singer Serge Gainsbourg.

Charlotte Gainsbourg, now 51, who grew up in a famous household – with her father’s provocative lyrics and mother’s sexuality taking centre stage, is now an established singer and actress in her own right, known for the song Deadly Valentine.

Last year, Charlotte and Jane publicly announced their support for Iranian women in a protest video which saw them cutting off their hair.

This came after the tragic death of Iranian activist Mahsa Amini who was beaten to death by the regime’s morality police who disproved of her hair showing in public.

Jane Birkin, fashion icon and style muse for the iconic Hermès handbag clutching onto her children with notorious ladies man Serge Gainsbourg, known for his provocative songwriting

Charlotte’s parents had spit by 1980 and Jane started a romantic relationship with French film director Jacques Doillon.

In September 1982, their daughter Lou Doillon – her third and last daughter was born.

Following in her late mother’s footsteps, Lou, now 40, started off her career as a teenage model, later venturing off into acting and other endeavours.