Gilles Villeneuve family name Villeneuve
Personal and early life
Villeneuve was born January 18, 1950, to piano-tuner Seville Villeneuve (1926–1987) and his wife Georgette (née Coupal; 1925–2008) in the province of Quebec in Canada and grew up in Berthierville. In 1970, he married Joann Barthe, with whom he had two children, Jacques and Mélanie. During his early career Villeneuve took his family on the road with him in a motorhome during the racing season, a habit which he continued to some extent during his Formula One career. At the time of his death Gilles was reportedly considering divorce from Joann: he had long been having an extramarital affair with a Torontonian woman.Villeneuve often claimed to have been born in 1952. By the time he got his break in Formula One, he was already 27 years old and took two years off his age to avoid being considered too old to make it at the highest level of motorsport.His younger brother Jacques also had a successful racing career in Formula Atlantic, Can-Am and CART. Gilles' son, also named Jacques, won the Indianapolis 500 and CART championships in 1995 and became Formula One World Champion in 1997.
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