Brigitte Nielsen

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Brigitte Nielsen as Red Sonja (1985)

Brigitte Nielsen (born July 15, 1963 in Rødovre, Denmark as Gitte Nielsen) is a Danish actress who became very popular in 1980s B-movies, most notably as the titular character in Red Sonja, due to her stature (she stands at 6 ft 1 in, or 185 cm, tall) and sultry looks. Because of these attributes, she was termed an "Amazon" by the world press.

Nielsen reached the peak of her fame in 1987, when she played the assassin Karla Fry in Beverly Hills Cop II.

Nielsen started a short-lived music career shortly after her divorce from Sylvester Stallone in 1987. She released her debut album "Every Body Tells A Story" in that year and recorded a duet with Austrian pop sensation Falco called "Body Next To Body" which went to #22 in Germany and #6 in Austria. She released a follow-up album, '"'I'm the one..nobody else'"', in 1992, although it was also not a success. In 1999 she made a musical comeback by recording the dance track "No more turning back" under the pseudonym of Gitta and reached #1 in Spain and topped other several European dance charts. Other tracks recorded as Gitta were 2000's Tic Toc and 2001's You're no lady, a collaboration with Ru Paul.

Similarly in the late 80s, Marvel Comics approached Brigitte to pose for photographs dressed as the comic book character She-Hulk. Brigitte had previously impressed the company with her prior portrayal of their character Red Sonja and they hoped she would prove just as successful in a new movie venture. Unfortunately the photos did not produce a large amount of investors in the potential film and Marvel was forced to scrap the project.

In the 1990s, she hosted an English-language talk show that was broadcast across Europe, to much acclaim. The show revived public interest in Nielsen and helped her brush off the misconception that she could only be known for her beauty.

She has worked for Italian television hosting hit shows such as the 1992 edition of the Sanremo Music Festival; Retromarsh (1995-1997), and ..la sai l'ultima? (1999); starring in the tv movie Fantaghiro and its sequels (1992-1996); and guest starring in the soap opera Un posto al sole (2000).

She appeared on the first season of the Italian version of The Mole (2004) and on the third season of the VH1 reality show The Surreal Life 2004. In the show, Nielsen was seen flirting with Public Enemy rapper Flavor Flav and it was confirmed that they were a couple, even though she was still legally married to Raoul Meyer. The show was such a success, due mainly to the interplay between this unusual couple, that VH1 produced a spin-off reality show called Strange Love, which began airing on the channel on January 9, 2005. Nielsen also appeared with Flav on the VH1 Big in '04 Awards.

In January 2005 she appeared in the UK TV program Celebrity Big Brother along with her former mother-in-law Jackie Stallone and the writer Germaine Greer.

In 2006 she appeared in another reality tv series, VH1's The Surreal Life: Fame Game.

1 Marriages and children
2 Filmography
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Marriages and children

Neilsen is famous for her love life. Her first marriage was to Danish musician Kasper Winding, with whom she had a son, followed by a marriage to actor Sylvester Stallone, her co-star in Rocky IV and Cobra. She become engaged later to American football player Mark Gastineau, with whom she had a son. Then she was married to Swiss racecar driver Raoul Meyer from 17 December 1993 to 2005, and they had two sons: Douglas Aaron and Raoul Jr. Ayrton (named after her friend Ayrton Senna). It is often claimed that she married photographer/director Sebastian Copeland (Orlando Bloom's cousin) but she says that it was not a legal marriage.

Nielsen married for the fifth time in March 2005 to 28-year-old Italian barman Mattia Dessi, who appeared briefly on Strange Love. The marriage was not official, because her divorce from her previous husband was not finalized. But on July 8, 2006 they married legally, following her divorce from her previous husband. Her maid of honor was Ivana Trump.