Gunter Sachs - the German-born billionaire, art collector and former husband of Brigitte Bardot - has killed himself at the age of 78.
Sachs's family said he shot himself at his chalet in the Swiss resort of Gstaad on Saturday.
A grandson of car manufacturer Adam Opel, Sachs's wealth helped him to become him a prominent member of the glamorous 1960s "jet set".
Sachs was married three times and had three children. He also had a relationship with Iranian queen Soraya Esfandiary in the early 1960s.
Born in southern Germany, Sachs trained in maths and economics before becoming a Swiss citizen in 1976.
A noted photographer who won several awards for his documentary films, he was also an avid art collector with a keen interest in astrology.
Sachs and Bardot married in Las Vegas in 1966, a few weeks afterthey first met. The marriage lasted just over three years.
Hours after meeting her, Sachs arranged for a helicopter to fly over her house in southern France and drop hundreds of red roses.
"It's not every day that aman drops a tonne of roses in your yard," the actress later wrote.
A spokesman for Bardot's animal rights charity said on Sunday she had been informed and was "devastated" by her ex-husband's death.
via http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13327822?print=true
