Born in Marseille as Félicité-Olympe de Jouval, she married on April 11, 1850 the lawyer Henri-Alexis Audouard (b. May 2, 1829). The couple separated in 1858, but was divorced only in 1885, shortly after the French divorce law (the "loi Naquet") had finally been passed on July 27, 1884.[2]