Ménie Grégoire (1919–2014)

Ménie Grégoire was born Marie Laurentin in Cholet, Maine-et-Loire, in western France. From age three, she rejected the name Marie and demanded to be called Ménie. She studied history in Paris and in 1943, married Roger Grégoire, later a prominent politician, with whom she had three daughters. She became a journalist and a pioneering radio host, known as France's first "radio psychologist." Her show Allô Ménie?" was broadcast on RTL (French radio) from 1967 to 1982. She was known for her commitment to women's rights and her efforts to demystify sexual problems. During the winter of 1984, her radio program was adapted for television.

She was also a columnist for the monthly magazine Marie-Claire and the author of 20 books, including Les Cris de la vie (1971) and the trilogy Les dames de la Loire (2001). In 2007, she published a selection of the 100,000 letters she received at RTL, under the title Comme une blade de fond. Her autobiography, Telle que je suis (Such As I Am), was published in 1978.