# Barbara Samson

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**Barbara Samson** (born February 7, 1975) is a French poet who was infected with [HIV](/source/HIV) at the age of seventeen. Her story was made into the French television film *[Being Seventeen](/source/Being_Seventeen)*.

Samson sought treatment for an [eating disorder](/source/Eating_disorder) at the age of seventeen. While staying in a French health clinic, she fell in love with another patient who wrote love poems for her. She later discovered that the poems were translations of [Jim Morrison](/source/Jim_Morrison)'s lyrics of [The Doors](/source/The_Doors)' rock songs. Her lover had also concealed his [HIV](/source/HIV)-positive status, which Samson in turn contracted. She told nobody about her illness, because she was so ashamed. Barbara met Eric and in 1994 they opened together the "sidaction", a programme which was on almost every French television channel. She also toured numerous schools to speak about AIDS.

Samson wrote an autobiography, *On n'est pas sérieux quand on a dix-sept ans* ("Nobody Is Serious When They're Seventeen").[1] The book became a [bestseller](/source/Bestseller) in France and was translated into eight languages.

As of 2005, Barbara Samson lives and works in France. She visited [Ohio University](/source/Ohio_University) in the spring of 2003 to speak about living with HIV.

## References

1. Samson, Barbara & Cuny, Marie-Thérèse (1994). [*On n'est pas sérieux quand on a dix sept ans*](https://books.google.com/books?id=J5BDAQAACAAJ) (in French). Fixot. ISBN 978-2-87645-246-6.

## Bibliography

- Samson, Barbara & Marie-Thérèse Cuny (1994). *On n'est pas sérieux quand on a dix-sept ans* (in French). Paris: Fixot. ISBN 2-87645-246-4.

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