Bardot's ex-husband Gunter Sachs commits suicide

Gunter Sachs, the German playboy and former husband of French sex symbol Brigitte Bardot, committed suicide at his Swiss chalet on Saturday. He was 78-years-old. A suicide note released by his family to the Swiss media, said he was suffering  from a “no hope illness A.” 

Reuters/Tobias Schwarz

He is thought to have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

Sachs popularised St Tropez as a playground for the rich and famous in the 1960s. He famously courted Brigitte Bardot by dropping hundreds of red roses over her villa in the French Riviera just hours after first meeting her in 1966. She became his second wife three weeks later, although they divorced in 1969.

Bardot is said to have been “devastated” by the news.

Sachs was the grandson of car maker Adam Opel. He was also a renowned photographer, mathematician and art collector.

His first wife, Anne-Marie Faure, died in 1958 of complications during a medical operation. His father, Wally Sachs, killed himself that same year. He married his third wife, Mirja Larrson, in 1969.

He became a Swiss citizen in 1976 and lived for years in the exclusive Swiss village of St. Moritz

He had three sons by his first and third marriages.