Family Nathalie Rheims came from an
Alsatian Jewish family on her father's side: she was the granddaughter of General
Léon Rheims, and the daughter of
Maurice Rheims, an
auctioneer and
French Academy member. Her mother, Lili Krahmer, half-sister to
David de Rothschild, abandoned her when she was 15 years old. She had a brother, Louis, who died at 33 years old, and for whom she wrote her first novel,
LUn pour l’autre, in 1999. She also had a sister, the photographer
Bettina Rheims. Until 1983, she alternated between theater and television roles. From 1981 to 1985, she also worked as a journalist for the magazine
Elle. In 1982, she released her first
45 RPM record,
Asphalte. As a singer, she adopted the pseudonym "Alix," the name of her maternal grandmother. She released four more singles, all written by her then-husband,
Frédéric Botton. In total, he wrote seven songs for her. During this period, the trio of Nathalie Rheims, Frédéric Botton, and Jean-Daniel Mercier wrote six of the seven songs for the album
Number One of the
Paradis Latin cabaret. In 1985, Nathalie Rheims transitioned to producing, initially for TV6, then France 2, producing
Haute curiosité, an arts program presented by
Claude Sérillon and
Maurice Rheims. In 1999, she published her first novel,
L’un pour l’autre (Galilée publishing), awarded the Gai Savoir Prize. In 2000, she published
Lettre d’une amoureuse morte with
Flammarion. This was followed by
Les Fleurs du silence and
L’Ange de la dernière heure in 2001 and 2002. In 2002, Rheims co-produced the film
Une femme de ménage. In 2003, she released
Lumière invisible à mes yeux, published by
Léo Scheer.
Le Rêve de Balthus,
Le Cercle de Megiddo, and ''
L'Ombre des autres'' were released in September 2004, 2005, and 2006, making her a best-selling author. As the partner and collaborator of producer-director
Claude Berri, she co-founded the film production company
Hirsch Production and worked as an associate producer on films such as ''
L'un reste, l'autre part, Les Enfants, Le Démon de midi, La Maison du bonheur, Ensemble, c'est tout, La Graine et le Mulet, and Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis''. At Claude Berri's request, she wrote the song ''L'un part, l'autre reste'', performed by
Charlotte Gainsbourg. The soundtrack of the film, composed and arranged by
André Manoukian and Frédéric Botton, was later covered by
Sylvie Vartan and included in several of her albums. In 2007, Rheims published her ninth book,
Journal intime, roman. Her eighth novel, ''L'Ombre des autres'', was planned to be adapted for the screen with
Mylène Farmer in the lead role, but the project was canceled following Claude Berri's death. In 2008, she published her tenth novel,
Le Chemin des sortilèges. In 2015, she released her autobiographical novel,
Place Colette, subtitled
Détournement de majeur, which tells the story of her romance at age 14 with an actor 30 years her senior. ==Personal life==