DEATH OF GENEVIEVE DE FONTENAY. Geneviève de Fontenay, former patroness of Miss France, died on Wednesday August 2, 2023.
Born on August 30, 1932 in Longwy in Meurthe et Moselle, Geneviève de Fontenay saw her life linked to a competition: that of Miss France. After entering a hotel school in Strasbourg and then a school of aesthetics in Paris, she met Louis Poirot, known as “de Fontenay” (his name under the Resistance) in 1952. Her life changed dramatically. The couple will have two sons, Ludovic and Xavier. At his side, she became secretary of the Miss France committee in 1954 and became the contest’s handywoman. Communication, stewardship, costume… She manages everything in the shadow of her husband then takes the reins of the competition on the death of Louis De Fontenay in 1981. She involves her son Xavier who takes on the role of director of the company.
Miss France gained national recognition with the first television broadcast of the contest in 1986 with Guy Lux at the helm of the show. The 1990s were a peak, the election went into prime time from 1995 and became one of the most watched shows, with audiences exceeding 10 and then 15 million viewers. In 2002, however, the company was sold to Endemol and dissension quickly arose. Geneviève de Fontenay is gradually pushed aside and ends up leaving Miss France in 2011.
She will launch a dissident contest the following year without ever managing to overshadow Miss France. She will finally bow out in 2016 but still roams the TV sets for a few years, especially in the shows of Laurent Ruquier, Cyril Hanouna or Thierry Ardisson. Having become discreet in her last years, she had rare news as she approached her 90th birthday in 2022, denying health concerns.
