RATING: šØ MOSTLY RELIABLE šØ
Many articles make similar claims to those above. However, much of this information circulates without a clear source, and I have struggled to find reputable/high level sources for some of this information. Therefore, keep in mind that some of this may be exaggerated or potentially unreliable.
Obviously, I cannot account for the sexual of history of every human who has ever lived, but evidence does suggest that Victor Hugo had a⦠lively sex life.
From Medium: āSex was so involved in Hugoās daily life that one biographer wrote the following while describing a typical day in Hugoās life:
āIt was not unusual for him to make love to a young prostitute in the morning, an actress before lunch, a courtesan as an aperitif, and then join the also Āindefatigable Juliette for a night of sex.ā
[ā¦] Hugo claimed that on the wedding night, he and his wife had sex nine times.ā
His encoded sex diary is referenced on Wikipedia, but when I found an English translation of the source, I couldnāt find where in it they were sourcing.
From Wikipedia: āHe systematically reported his casual affairs using his own code, as Samuel Pepys did, to make sure they would remain secret.ā
The source is listed as: āHugo, Victor, Choses vues 1870ā1885, p. 529, ISBNĀ 2070361411, pp. 371, 521 (n. 1).ā
Iāve found Choses Vues here in the original French and here translated into English. If anyone can find anything in here about the encoded sex diary, please let me know!
His 'official mistressā is likely in reference to Juliette Drouet.
From EBSCO: 'Since 1833, Hugo had maintained a liaison with a beautiful female actor, Juliette Drouet, who for twelve years followed a cloistered existence relieved only by six-week summer holidays with her lover.ā
His 'unofficial mistressā is likely in reference to LĆ©onie dāAunet Biard.
From The Common Reader: 'Overlapping was a seven-year affair with travel writer and Arctic explorer LĆ©onie dāAunet Biard, whose husband finally brought a police officer to the Paris hotel and caught them in flagrante.ā
I have found articles that circulate the '200ā claim, but none that give a source for the information.
From Medium: 'Not only that but he bedded 200 women in this hotel in just two years.ā
The claim that brothels were closed on the day of his funeral is again circulated frequently without claim. The only sourced part of the claim I can find is a second hand report that sex workers had 'draped their gentials in black crepeā.
From The Guardian: ā[ā¦] when Hugo died the brothels of Paris closed down for a day of mourning, allowing all the cityās sex workers to pay their last respects to a loyal client. Literary critic Edmond de Goncourt claimed a police officer told him that sex workers even draped their genitals in black crepe as a mark of respect.ā
And an estimated 2 million people attended his funeral procession.
From Funeral Conflicts in Nineteenth-Century France: 'Two million people came to see Hugoās body lying in state at the Arc de Triompheā
Heās now been dead for 141 years, although 133 was correct at the time of posting. How slutty those years are⦠I couldnāt say.