Sad news for French cinema: actress Nathalie Baye is dead. His death was announced this Saturday April 18, 2026 but dates from the day before. The star was 77 years old. His relatives revealed the cause.
The 7th art is in mourning: actress Nathalie Baye has left us, victim of a terrible neurodegenerative disease. It was via a press release shared on Saturday April 18 with AFP by his loved ones, including his daughter the actress Laura Smet, that his death was announced to the general public.
What did Nathalie Baye die of? His family lifts the veil
Nathalie Baye died on April 17, 2026. The star, who had been Caesarized four times during her career, died “Friday evening at his Parisian home from Lewy body disease“, clarified those close to him, making no secret of the cause. The general public was not aware of his illness – a combination of disorders similar to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, as for the late weather presenter Catherine Laborde – but the newspaper The Parisian relates that the movie star was “sick and in a worrying state of health since last summer.”
The daily adds that she had not appeared publicly for months and “had canceled his presence at an event last July but his daughter Laura Smet then denied rumors of hospitalization at the time.“
The life expectancy of a person with Lewy body disease changes enormously depending on the age at which the diagnosis was made and can therefore vary from 2 to 20 years. It would affect 11 million people worldwide and 200,000 people in France.
Nathalie Baye was serene with the passing of age: “I am quite in harmony”
Having not publicly discussed his illness, the star of the films Libra And The Little Lieutenant had, however, willingly agreed to speak about his age and the time he spends with Marie Claire. “What I can tell you is that I am quite in harmony with my mind, my age and my physique. There are mornings when we wake up and feel good about ourselves, we feel good about ourselves; and moments when we find ourselves terrible.”
The ex-partner of Johnny Hallyday, who with his departure therefore leaves Laura Smet orphaned by her parents at only 42 years old, added: “I’ll tell you one thing (you don’t have to believe me): I don’t think about it. Two or three years ago, I asked myself: ‘But how old am I again?’ I had to redo the calculation.“
