Oldest-ever woman, 122, may have been a fraud
The body of the French woman registered as the oldest person to have lived should be examined after claims that her daughter took over her identity as part of a tax fraud, according to a Russian researcher.
Jeanne Calment’s apparent longevity turned her into global celebrity before she died at the age of 122 years and 164 days in 1997. However, that age is being challenged by Russian academics who say the woman was not who she claimed to be.
Yuri Deigin, a genealogist, claims that Calment actually died in 1934 and that her daughter, Yvonne, usurped her identity as part of a tax scam. As a result the woman who died in 1997 was in fact only 100 years old.
The death of Calment’s daughter was registered in 1934 in her home town of Arles in southern France, French archives show. But Deigin, who owns a biotech business, says that it was in fact the mother who had died.
The genealogist said that Calment, born in 1875, and Fernand, her husband, were the joint owners of a department store in Arles, in Provence. If Calment’s death had been registered, Mr Calment would have had to pay inheritance tax of up to 38 per cent on his wife’s half of the business.
Deigin said that Mr Calment avoided the bill by telling officials that it was his daughter who had died.
The daughter then passed herself off as her mother for the rest of her life, according to the Russian theory. Deigin said that photographs of Yvonne Calment taken before her supposed death showed that she had exactly the same ears and nose as the woman who became famous as Jeanne Calment.
His assertions have caused outrage in France. Jean-Marie Robine, director of research at the National Institute for Health and Medical Research, denounced them as fanciful. ‘‘No one has ever done so much to prove a person’s age,’’ he said. ‘‘We pulled out all the stops to work on her. We never found anything to suggest the slightest doubt on her age.’’
Nicolas Brouard, director of research at the French Institute of Demographic Studies, called for the bodies of Jeanne and Yvonne Calment to be exhumed and examined to determine their ages.