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| Jeanne Calment at age 122 (Source) |
But unlike Morano who had some challenges in family life and had to work in a factory to fend for herself, Calment's life was a privileged one. Her dad was a shipbuilder and her mom came from a family of millers, both from Arles, France. Yes, the same Arles where Vincent Van Gogh spent considerable time. Calment even remembered meeting Van Gogh when she was a teenager in her uncle's shop where Van Gogh bought canvas.
After getting her diploma at 16, Calment did several activities like painting and piano lessons while awaiting marriage. At age 21, she got married to a second cousin who was a wealthy shop owner. Her husband's wealth allowed her not to work for life. She kept herself busy by pursuing hobbies such as fencing, cycling, tennis, swimming, rollerskating, watching operas and playing the piano.
Her husband passed away when Calment was 67 years old. Both of them ate dessert with preserved cherries which were treated with copper sulfate. Her husband developed jaundice and died from the poisoning after one and a half months. Calment, having eaten fewer cherries, fortunately survived. Her daughter died of pneumonia and her grandson died from an automobile accident.
At age 90 with no heirs, she struck a deal with a lawyer, age 47, to sell her apartment. The deal was that the buyer would pay her a monthly fee until she died and upon which, the apartment's ownership would be transferred to the buyer. Since you're dealing with a 90-year old seller, one would think it's such a bargain, right? Except that Calment lived up to age 122. She even outlived the buyer who passed away at age 77. The buyer's heirs had to continue to pay the monthly dues to Calment. At the end of Calment's life, the total payments made to her for 32 years were more than double her apartment's value. 😱
Calment lived alone from age 88 (after her grandson died) and only moved to a nursing home at age 110. And guess what? She rode the bicycle until the age of 100! 😲
Here were some of Calment's recorded daily rituals between at age 111 to 114:
She started her day at 6:45am with a long prayer by her window thanking God for being alive and for the beautiful day that was about to start. Sometimes, she would loudly ask the reason for her longevity and why she was the only one alive in her family.
While seated on her armchair, she did some flexing exercises.
Her breakfast consisted of coffee with milk, and rusks (dry, hard biscuit or twice-baked bread).
She washed herself unassisted. She applied olive oil on her skin and powder.
She washed her own cutlery before going to lunch. She liked braised beef and she wasn't too keen on boiled fish. She made herself a daily fruit salad using banana slices and squeezed orange.
After eating, she smoked a cigarette (in her earlier years, it was a cigar) and drank a small amount of Port Wine.
In the afternoon, she took a nap for 2 hours in her armchair and when she woke up, she would go around the nursing home to share what news she heard from the radio.
At night, she would have dinner and return to her room to listen to music, smoked a last cigarette and went to bed at 10pm.
Like Morano, there are so many surprising things about Calment's lifestyle which don't follow the conventional healthy habits. The most glaring ones are -
She loved chocolates - she consumed 2 pounds of chocolates a week! In one article I read, it states that she only stopped eating chocolates at age 119!
She started smoking cigars at age 21 (influenced by the husband) and she only quit smoking at age 117!
