Brigitte Nielsen (born Gitte Nielsen on July 15, 1963) is a Danish actress who became popular in 1980s B-movies. She is also known for her marriage to actor Sylvester Stallone and her relationship with rapper Flavor Flav. Brigitte Nielsen is fluent in Danish, English, Italian and German.

Career

Nielsen was born in Rødovre, Denmark, and the daughter of Svend Nielsen, an engineer, and Hanne, a librarian.^[1] She has a brother, Jan.

Nielsen began her acting career in 1985, in Red Sonja. Nielsen started a short-lived music career shortly after her divorce from Stallone in 1987. She released her debut album Every Body Tells A Story in that year and recorded a duet with Austrian pop star 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 several other 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.

In the late 1980s, Marvel Comics approached Nielsen to pose for photographs dressed as the comic book character She-Hulk^[2]. She 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. 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.

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 Fantaghirò and its sequels (1992-1996); and guest starring in the Rai Tre's 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 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 VH1's Big in '04 Awards. In 2006, she guest-starred on Flav's other reality show, Flavor of Love.

In 2004 she appeared in the Danish Big Brother VIP, one year later in January 2005 she was also a contestant in the British equivalent 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. In March 2007, she starred in a new British documentary called Killing Brigitte Nielsen aired on Sky Travel.

According to some rumors^[3] she will be one of the contestants of a new VH1 reality series called Celebrity Rehab.

Confirmed, she will be on Celebrity Rehab, airing in fall 2007 on VH1.

Personal life

Nielsen's first marriage was to Danish musician Kasper Winding, with whom she had a son. She was then married to actor Sylvester Stallone, her co-star in Cobra. She later became engaged (but not married) to American football player Mark Gastineau, with whom she had a son. She then married Swiss racecar driver Raoul Meyer from December 17, 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, but she says that it was not a legal marriage.

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

On July 9, 2007, Nielsen checked herself into the Cri-Help rehabilitation facility in North Hollywood following what some reports claim was a family intervention. ^[4]. Her manager, Steven Tempone, confirmed on July 19, 2007 that she had checked into rehab and told the Associated Press "All I know is it's something she did of her own free will and we're proud of her and wish her very well... When she gets out we'll have a big birthday party, and Coca-Cola only." ^[5]

As of July 22, 2007, Nielsen was out of rehab to attend the Comedy Central roast of Flavor Flav. She told People that she felt "like a new-born person... I made a choice about a new life. It's not been easy but it was definitely time." While People does not report the date that Nielsen checked into rehab, they state that she "had been in treatment for a few weeks." ^[6].

Filmography

• Red Sonja (1985)
• Rocky IV (1985)
• Cobra (1986)
• Beverly Hills Cop II (1987)
• Bye Bye Baby (1988)
• Domino (1988)
• 976-EVIL 2: The Astral Factor (1991)
• The Double 0 Kid (1992)
• Mission of Justice (1992)
• Counterstrike (1990 TV series) episode "Bastille Day Terror" (October 17, 1992)
• Fantaghirò 2 (1992) (TV)
• Chained Heat II (1993)
• Fantaghirò 3 (1993) (TV)
• Fantaghirò 4 (1994) (TV)
• Galaxis (1995)
• Compelling Evidence (1995)
• Codename: Silencer (1995)
• Snowboard Academy (1996)
• Fantaghirò 5 (1996) (TV)
• Hostile Environment (1998)
• She's Too Tall (1998) (also associate producer and writer)
• Paparazzi (1998)
• Doomsdayer (2000)
• Un Posto al sole (2000) (TV) episodes "Famous shipwrecked" (September 13-14, 2000)
• Voyage: Killing Brigitte Nielsen (2007) (TV)

References

External links

• Brigitte Nielsen at IMDb

• Brigitte Nielsen Official MySpace Page

Template:The Surreal Life series