Brigitte Nielsen Biography
Actress, model, presenter, and singer Brigitte Nielsen was born in Rødovre, a little place near Copenhagen in Denmark. At the end of High school when she was 16, Gitte (her given name) left her family to begin her modeling career. She worked for top fashion designers like
Giorgio Armani,
Gianni Versace, and
Gianfranco Ferré and divided her time between New York, Paris, Milan, and Berlin. In 1983, she married Danish musician
Kasper Winding and the year after her first son Julian was born, but in the same period acted in
Red Sonja and left her husband and son for an acting career. The film with
Arnold Schwarzenegger was successful and in 1985 she also acted in
Rocky IV with her future husband,
Sylvester Stallone. Stallone met Nielsen in the summer of 1985 during Red Sonja's promo and after six months they married in Malibu. After 19 months, another film together
Cobra and many scandals Gitte and Sly divorced. In 1987 Brigitte acted in
Beverly Hills Cop II and went to Italy where she worked in a big Italian TV show called Festival, recorded a dance album, "Every Body Tells A Story" and a pop music single "Body Next To Body" with German singer Falco.
In January 1988, she met football player Mark Gastineau in an LA gym and soon she was in love with him. In December 1989 her second son Killian was born but the relationship with Gastineau finished. In 1990, Nielsen married the photographer/director Sebastian Copeland (
Orlando Bloom's cousin) in Las Vegas and recorded another album called "I'm the One...Nobody Else". In 1992 when her third marriage was finished Brigitte met Swiss/Italian
Raoul Meyer and married him in December 1993. The same year her third son Douglas Aaron was born and Gitte also acted in some films such as: _Double 0 Kid, The (1992)_ with
Seth Green and
Wallace Shawn,
Fantaghirò 2, and in the erotic thriller
Chained Heat II. Meanwhile, she also worked in European television and in 1995 her last son Raoul Jr. Ayrton (in memory of her friend Ayrton Senna) was born.
Since them, Brigitte left her 4th husband, Brigitte and lives in Milan, Italy and the USA. She continues to act in many films such as:
Body Count,
Snowboard Academy,
Hostile Environment, and
Doomsdayer. She has also recorded some dance music singles: "No More Turning Back" and "You're No Lady". In 2004 she participated in two reality show, the Italian "La Talpa" (Celebrity Mole) and the American
The Surreal Life and
Strange Love.
Trivia

Her real name, Gitte is pronounced Ghee-Te.

Dropped out of school at age 16 with her parents' permission to model in Paris.

She speaks four languages: Danish, Italian, English and German.

She was rumored to have turned down $ 1M for spending a night with an Arab prince. (July 1997)

The now bankrupt New World Studios hired her to pose for promotional photos highlighting the Marvel Comics character She-Hulk in 1989 to distribute as a possible movie. Though the pictures garnered much fan interest, they failed to produce interest in financial backers.

Released some dance music singles (titled "No more turning back" in 2000, "Tic Toc" in 2001, You're no lady" featuring the drag-queen
RuPaul in summer 2002), but she used her real name Gitta.

Measurements: Reported to be 36B-24 1/2-36 1/2 at the time of her wedding to
Sylvester Stallone. Enhancement surgery resulted in a 41DD-23 1/2-37 figure in 1989. (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Her manager was the American dancer
David Buonantony.

Son by
Mark Gastineau, Marcus (b. 1990). Gastineau announced his retirement from the NFL on 20 October 1988 citing that Nielsen, whom he left
Lisa Gastineau for, was suffering from cancer. Much later, he admitted he had twice tested for steroids and was afraid of the bad publicity from a third positive test.

Son Julian born in Copenhagen on April 1984 by her first husband, Danish musician
Kasper Winding, studies music like his father and lives in Denmark. Son Killian, by footballer Mark Gastineau, lives with her and 4th husband
Raoul Meyer together with the other two sons from her marriage to Meyer, Douglas Aaron, born on April 19, 1993 and Raoul Jr., born on May 21, 1995.

Brother Jan was born in 1965.

Was engaged to New York Jets defensive end Mark Gastineau from January 1988 to April 1990.

Swam for many years when she was young.

Dad Svend (died in 1999) was an engineer. Mom, Hanne, was a librarian.

Her favorite movies are
A Beautiful Mind and
I Am Sam.

Her favorite city is Paris.

Her favorite writers are
Wilbur Smith and
Ken Follett.

Her favorite book is "A Place Called Freedom" by
Ken Follett.

Her first son Julian (b. 1984) married Sine Thybeak Hansen on April 19, 2004 in Copenhagen in the same day and at the same age of his mother when she married Julian's father, the musician
Kasper Winding.

Her first apartment in Los Angeles belonged to actor
Armand Assante.

Engaged to
Sylvester Stallone from April 1985 to December 1985, the month in which the two married.

Her third husband, the photographer/director Sebastian Copeland is
Orlando Bloom's cousin.

She was briefly considered for these roles: Jane Porter in
Greystoke: The Legend of Tarzan, Lord of the Apes, Maria Sofia of Austria in
'O re, Gayle in
Battle Queen 2020 & Fran in
Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story. In order, the roles went to
Andie MacDowell,
Ornella Muti,
Julie Strain &
Missi Pyle.

While she acted in
Domino, she was pregnant, a pregnancy that she lost during the shooting of the film. The film was shut down for two weeks while she recovered.

Her natural hair colour is light brown and she has green/brown eyes.

Escaped death after canceling a flight on the plane which crashed at Milan's Linate airport. (October 2001).

On
Howard Stern's show, she said that she had a relationship with
Arnold Schwarzenegger during the shooting of
Red Sonja.

Was engaged to
Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1985.

She spoke to her former mother-in-law
Jackie Stallone for the first time since 1987 after they both appeared as contestants on
Celebrity Big Brother in January 2005.

She left her first husband and child in Denmark to find fame in America (1985).

Ex-husband
Sylvester Stallone was so "obsessed" with her appearance, he had her image carved into their furniture.

She is engaged to Italian bartender Mattia Dessì since April 2004. They met in a restaurant in Lugano on April 12, 2004. Mattia is 15 years younger than Brigitte.

She remains good friends with
Flavor Flav.

When she was 10-years old she got up every morning at 4:30 to deliver bread from the local bakery before she went to school.

Met her 3rd husband
Raoul Meyer three times before they married: the first time in 1980 but she was engaged to Luca Rossi, a famous Italian top-models boss, the second time in 1987 when she was divorced but Raoul was engaged, and the last time in May 1992, in their friend's villa on the lake of Como in Lombardia, Italy.

In February 2005, she credited
Flavor Flav with saving her life, when he dialed 911 as she suffered a severe morning asthma attack.
Ivana Trump was her witness at her second marriage to Mattia Dessi.

Married Mattia Dessi for a second time on the Mediterranean island of Malta.

According to the Guiness Book of World Records, she is the tallest living actress, 6' 1", in a leading role, along with
Mariel Hemingway (
Tamara Dobson was 6' 2", but she passed away in 2006).

Ex-wife of
Sylvester Stallone. Former mother-in-law to
Sage Stallone and
Seargeoh Stallone. Former sister-in-law of
Frank Stallone Jr. Former daughter-in-law of
Jackie Stallone and
Frank Stallone Sr.

Mother of
Julian Winding.

Her 2nd son Killian, by footballer Mark Gastineau, was born in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA on December 15, 1989.

Appeared in Flavor of love (2006) the highest rated show in VH1's history.
Source provided by imdb (Copyright) - The Internet Movie Database.