Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette
- tabitharandlett1
- Apr 8
- 3 min read
Updated: Apr 22
Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette, known as Colette, is remembered fondly in history as many things— writer, beautician, stage actress—but above all, as a literary icon. Though she is now celebrated for her groundbreaking work, the beginning of her career was rife with exploitation and hardship and is hardly discussed.
At 20, Colette married 34-year-old Henry Gauthier-Villars, a man better known by his pen name, “Willy.” Willy built his career as an author on commissioning novels from young writers— both men and women— and passing them off as his own. However, after marrying Colette, he discovered a far more convenient and cost-effective scheme.
Shortly after their wedding, Colette learned of her husband’s marital infidelity. Struggling with depression and a severe case of gonorrhea, Colette became increasingly vulnerable to his control. Seizing the opportunity, Willy convinced her to let him publish her work under his name. According to Colette, he would lock her in a room and only let her out when she wrote enough to please him (though the validity of this is debated).
In this dynamic, Colette penned the Claudine series. This series, which was comprised of four books across four years consisted of Claudine at School, Claudine and Annie, Claudine in Paris, and Claudine Married. These books were instant bestsellers, inspiring numerous adaptations for stage and screen. Despite their success, Colette saw none of the profits— Willy held the copyright, leaving her without financial or creative control.
In 1906, Colette had finally had enough and filed for divorce. With no legal rights to her own work, she was left penniless and turned to the stage, earning just enough to get by. It was during this time that she entered a six-year long relationship with Marquise de Belbeuf, known as Missy. With the stage community, Colette found a sense of belonging and openly embraced her relationship with Missy— who, based on Colette’s writings, may have been a transgender man or gender non-conforming.
Free from Willy’s grip, Colette published The Vagabond, her first novel under her own name. In it, she famously described her ex-husband as
a man whose “only genius... was for lying.”
The book was a success, paving the way for a literary career that would span decades. Among her many celebrated works, Gigi became one of her most famous, later adapted into a Broadway play starring a then-unknown Audrey Hepburn— whom Colette personally chose for the role, launching Hepburn’s career.
In 1931 after Willy’s passing, Colette also successfully sued to reclaim her rightful title as author of the Claudine series. Though Colette’s life was long and remarkable, and her name is now rightfully credited to the Claudine series, the exploitation she endured at the hands of Henry Gauthier-Villars is often overlooked. Her legacy, however, is undeniable— an enduring testament to resilience, talent, and the fight for creative ownership. Her story was even brought to the big screen in the 2018 biographical film Colette, starring Keira Knightley, which shed light on her early struggles and the fight to reclaim her voice.
Sources
Apic. (ca. 1902). Colette and her husband Willy [Photograph]. Getty Images.
Bleecker Street. (n.d.). Colette. Bleecker Street Media.
Claudine at School cover. 1982. Goodreads.
Colette. (1989). The vagabond (E. Gouny, Trans.). Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Edemariam, Aida. 2019. “Wild, Controversial and Free: Colette, a Life Too Big for Film.” The Guardian. January 7, 2019.
Henri Manuel. (ca. 1910). Colette [Photograph].
Matzen, R. (n.d.). Colette Audrey Hepburn. Robert Matzen.
Tyra, Allison. Uncredited: Women’s Overlooked, Misattributed and Stolen Work. Rising Action, 2025.
Unknown photographer. (n.d.). Colette and Mathilde “Missy” de Morny [Photograph].
Zarevich, E. (2023, September 22). The cross-dressing superstar of the Belle Époque. JSTOR Daily.
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