Robert Badinter, who died this Friday, February 9, formed a couple with Élisabeth Badinter, philosopher and feminist, to whom he had been married since 1966.
Élisabeth Badinter, née Bleustein-Blanchet, is a feminist philosopher and intellectual. A graduate of philosophy, she has been married to the famous lawyer and former Minister of Justice since 1966, Robert Badinter, died this Friday, February 9. By becoming one of the figures of feminism in France, she describes herself as “daughter of Simone de Beauvoir” whose work she admires. She held this position throughout her career despite criticism from many feminists. “By wanting to systematically ignore the violence and power of women, by proclaiming them constantly oppressed, and therefore innocent, we are implicitly painting the portrait of a humanity cut in two that hardly conforms to the truth. On the one hand, the victims of male oppression, on the other, the all-powerful executioners,” she states in her essay. Wrong Way, published in 2003. Daughter of Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet, founder of Publicis, and Sophie Vaillant, granddaughter of the socialist deputy Édouard Vaillant, she turns out to be at the head of a colossal heritage. It is estimated at more than 1.39 billion euros in 2023 according to Forbes.
A discreet couple
Her relationship with Robert Badinter was discreet, but Élisabeth was full of praise for her husband who nicknamed her “Mimi”. She estimated in 2016 that “a man who is happy when something happy happens to his wife, for me, is a feminist”. More than a couple, it was a duo. They supported each other all their lives. It is in the house of Elisabeth’s parents in Villennes-sur-Seine in Yvelines that they meet. Robert Badinter was then a lawyer for Publicis, which is why he was often invited to lunch. At this time, he had just divorced his first wife, Anne Vernon. Élisabeth was then a philosophy student. The lawyer falls in love with this woman, 16 years younger than him. Every year since Elizabeth was 12, Robert gave her a small wooden elephant.
On July 1, 1966, they married in a small group in Paris, at the Victoire Synagogue, then had 3 children. In 1972, they moved near the Luxembourg Gardens in the 6th arrondissement of Paris, in the apartment where the former Minister of Justice died. In this home, everyone had their own floor. Élisabeth Badinter describes a happy marriage: she wears no less than 6 wedding rings, because “love is like a nine-year lease. That’s why Robert regularly puts the ring on my finger”, she confided in the book Robert and Élisabeth Badinter, two children of the Republic, written by Alain Frèrejean.