Born at Castel-Novel in Corrèze, she spent her childhood in the care of her English nanny, Miss Draper, only rarely seeing her famous mother.[2]
In 1935, Colette de Jouvenel married Dr. Dausse. She would leave her husband two months later and divorce the following year, in 1936. After this short-lived marriage, she had affairs with several women, notably with Nicole Stéphane.