In 1949, at the suggestion of a family friend, she began working as a fashion model and ended up making the cover of "Elle" magazine in May 1950. This led to her being noticed by movie director Yves Allegret who offered her a role in one of his movie. The movie was never made but during the audition she met his young assistant Roger Vadim. Her family was strongly against the relationship but finally gave in and they married in 1952. 