Also known as Mama Doc, she was the First Lady of Haiti from 1957 until 1980 under the administrations of her husband, Haitian Presidents Francois 'Papa Doc' Duvalier (1957-1971) and later her son, Jean-Claude Duvalier (1971-1980). She was born Simone Ovide near the Haitian town Leogane, the daughter of a mulatto and writer, Jules Faine and Celie Ovide, one of the maids in the household. At an early age, her mother gave her up, and she spent much of her childhood in an orphanage in Petion-Ville, an exclusive suburb in the hills above Port-au-Prince. The orphans were encouraged to acquire vocational skills and Simone Ovide was trained as a nurse's aide. While working as a nurse's aide, she met a young doctor named Francois Duvalier. The couple married on December 27, 1939, and had four children: Marie Denise, Nicole, Simone "Queen" and Jean-Claude, their only son. After their marriage, Francois Duvalier rose through the bureaucracy of the Haitian government and became Minister of Public Health in 1949 and was later elected President in 1957. Throughout his 14 years in office, his wife guarded close access to her husband inside the National Palace and developed and promoted her own palace favorites. Because of her acquired status and her imperious bearing, Haitians referred to her as 'Mama Doc'. She was, like her husband, reported to be a Vodou expert. She cultivated the image of a benefactor; dispensing charity to inhabitants of 'Cite Simone', a planned settlement named for her that is known today as Cite Soleil, one of the most miserable slums in Latin America. Simone Duvalier's influence reached its peak after the death of her husband in 1971, when her nineteen year old son, Jean-Claude succeeded his father as Haiti's President-For-Life. Simone Duvalier retained the title of First Lady, and relished the power it conferred. According to a number of her associates, she deeply resented having to relinquish that role after Jean-Claude married Michele Bennett in 1980 and she was demoted to Guardian of the Duvalierist Revolution. Following the Duvalier family's downfall in February 1986, Simone Duvalier joined her son and his wife in exile in France. She was rarely seen in public. After his son's bitter divorce, she lived in relative poverty in the suburbs of Paris.