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Blanche Monnier was a French socialite born on 1 March 1849, from a well-respected family. She was renowned for her beauty and attracted many potential suitors for marriage.

In 1876, at the age of 27, she desired to marry an older lawyer who was not to her mother's liking; she argued that her daughter could not marry a "penniless lawyer."

Her disapproving mother, angered by her daughter's defiance, locked her in a tiny, dark room in the attic of their home, where she kept her secluded for 25 years.

Her family continued on with their daily lives, pretending to mourn Blanche's disappearance. None of her friends knew where she was, and the lawyer whom she wished to marry died unexpectedly in 1885.

After 25 years, Monnier was rescued by police from appalling conditions, covered in old food and faeces, with bugs all around the bed and floor, weighing barely 25 kilograms (55 lb).