British-born actress and singer Jane Birkin, a 1960s wild child who became a beloved figure in France, has died in Paris aged 76.

Le Parisien newspaper and BFM television reported she had been found dead at her home, citing people close to her.

Birkin had a mild stroke in 2021 after suffering heart problems in previous years.

“This departure is so sad. She was a beautiful person,” former Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot told BFM.

She was best known overseas for her 1969 hit in which she and her then-lover, the late French singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg, sang the sexually explicit Je t’aime…moi non plus.

She had lived in her adopted France since the break-up of her marriage to British composer John Barry in the late 1960s.

Apart from her singing and roles in dozens of films, she was a popular figure in France for her warm nature, stalwart fight for women’s and LGBTQ+ rights.

The name behind the famous Birkin bag

Birkin became known for carrying a hand-woven straw basket at all times, even to nightclubs and formal events.

The bag was later deliberately run over by French director and her then-partner, Jacque Doillon.

Birkin was on a flight from Paris to London in 1983 when she was seated next to the chairman of luxury brand Hermès Jean-Louis Dumas.

The contents of the basket fell out onto the floor — scrambling for her things, Birkin told Dumas she had been unable to find a leather bag she liked.

He went on to design a leather bag for her in 1984.

She used it for a while, but abandoned it later on, labelling it “bloody heavy” in a 2012 interview.

The bags, now a status symbol, can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

In 2015, Birkin penned an open letter asking that her name be taken off the bag.

“Having been alerted to the cruel practices endured by crocodiles during their slaughter for the production of Hermès bags carrying my name … I have asked Hermès Group to rename the Birkin until better practices responding to international norms can be implemented for the production of this bag,” she told the AFP.

Hermès has not renamed the bag.

Love affairs and albums in France

It was in France that Birkin truly shot to fame, as much for her love affair with tormented national star Gainsbourg, as for her tomboyish style and endearing British accent when speaking French, which some said she cultivated deliberately.