A French woman Jeanne Calment who was once the oldest woman in the world
may have lied about her age. Jeanne Calment who passed away at 122 years and
164 days in 1997 earned a Guiness World Record as the oldest woman in the
world. News is some surfacing though that she may have lied about her age by
taking her mother’s identity. If this is true, it would have meant that she
added an extra 23 years to her age. Even so 99 years old is impressive.
A Russian mathematician known as Nikolai Zak wasn’t entirely
convinced that the woman was who she was claiming to be. Helping to support
this claim is gerontologist Valery Novoselov who spent months analysing and
scrutinizing the once oldest woman in the world’s bio, interviews and photos.
They also dive into her public records in the city where she lived. After this
extensive research Nikolai published what he had found and noted that there
were many discrepancies when compared to other supercentenarians, which sounds
like a super hero, but really is just people who live past 110.
Zak believes that her real name was Yvonne who was reported
dead in 1934, but in reality it was Jeanne her mother who had died. The
supporting evidence for Zak's claim is that there are differences in the
physical characteristics listed on Jeanne's identity card from the 30's to how
she appeared as an older woman. Her card said her eye and hair color were
black, however the woman who died in 1997 once had chestnut brown hair.
The daughter is actually taller than her mother as well
standing at 152 centimeters when her mother was only 150 centimeters. There was
also no visual signs of aging when compared to others who lived to be a similar
age. She could sit upright without support and had no visible signs of
dementia. She credited her long life to eating chocolate, drinking port which
is a sweet red wine and enjoying the occasional cigarette.
According to these Russian researchers when Jeanne became famous for her age she immediately had her old photos burned which makes things even more suspicious when it comes to her true identity. Now with all of that said the woman who played a big role in authenticating Jeanne’s age for the world record believes that this Russian report never examined the facts in favor of the authenticity for her longevity. They also believe that it is simply meant to be defamatory against her family. If for some reason though this world record is changed the new title would go to the family of American Sarah Knauss who died at the age 119 in 1999.
I want to know what you think about this story though, do
you believe she is in fact still the reigning champ of oldest woman in the
world or do you think there is some truth to this Russian report. Feel free to
hit your thoughts in the comments below.
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