Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff French TV stars die of COVID-19 a week apart amid legal claims they had defrauded a millionaire investor. Had both entered Paris hospital in December.
French TV star twins who shot to fame in a 1980s sci-fi series and became infamous for their shared love of plastic surgery have both died of COVID-19 within a week of each other according to French media.
Igor Bogdanoff today died of the coronavirus, six days after his twin brother Grichka passed away at a Paris hospital on December 28, surrounded by his loved ones.
Grichka had been admitted to intensive care on December 15, the same day as his brother, with Covid-19 complications Europe 1 reported.
It is understood that neither of the twins were vaccinated against coronavirus.
Of note, the twins had been set to appear set to go to trial over an alleged swindle of a millionaire with bipolar disorder to settle their financial woes. Igor and Grichka Bogdanoff had been scheduled to take part in a trial on January 20, 21 and 27, 2022 according to France24.
Morbid fascination with plastic surgery
The twin brothers who were shrouded in mystery were known for their eclectic personalities and clothing, storytelling, television hosting and plastic surgery.
The twins’ obsession with plastic surgery, which began in the 1990s, eventually left the brothers looking un-recogniseable and they were often mocked for their appearance according to Le Figaro.
They were born in Gers in 1949 and had shot to fame in the 1980s on French television, helped by their boyish good looks.
Their star turn on the 1979 sci-fi programme Temps X was hugely popular, and ran for eight years.
In the show they donned cosmonaut outfits and imparted scientific facts.
When the siblings appeared on the red carpet in 2010 aged 60 for a 150th anniversary Chopard party, people were shocked by their appearance.
They were both understood to have had a number of chin and cheek implants, as well as botox and fillers.
Embroiled in scandal
Despite their plastic surgery obsession, which they denied having, both were well-read and intelligent, impacted by the seminars of Roland Barthes, the French essayist and access to 15,000 books in their family childhood library according to the dailymail.
In recent years, they launched a weekly television show in 2002 called Rayon X (X Rays) on the channel France 2.
And in August 2004 they presented a special 90 minute programme on cosmotology.
But the brothers were involved in a 2001 scandal called the ‘Bogdanoff Affair’, where papers penned by the brothers about the Big Bang featured in peer-reviewed scientfic journals.
It was later discovered that the papers held no scientific value.
Igor Bogdanoff had six children, four from his first marriage and married his second wife Amelie de Bourbon-Parme in 2009.
He had two sons with his second wife whom he divorced in May 2018.
Little was known about Grichka’s personal life but he had no known relationships or chldren.
The pair had most recently appeared on the French Masked Singer in 2020 and been influential personalities in the bitcoin industry.
