One of Jane's most high-profile roles is the sexy space traveller Barbarella in the 1968 cult classic of the same name. Based on a French comic series, Barbarella sent Jane into '60s bombshell territory. The science-fiction flick was directed by Roger Vadim, and in her 2005 autobiography, My Life So Far, Jane revealed how tense things got for them on the set. Roger began drinking heavily during filming, and "his decisions about how to shoot scenes often seemed ill-considered." At the time, Jane was also struggling with bulimia, and as "a young woman who hated her body . . . playing a scantily clad, sometimes-naked sexual heroine," she was insecure about her appearance during production and photo shoots.
In September 1968, Jane and Roger welcomed a daughter, Vanessa, who was named after the legendary actress and activist Vanessa Redgrave. The couple divorced in 1973. Roger Vadim died of cancer in 2000, and Jane — along with fellow ex-wives Brigitte Bardot, Catherine Schneider, and Annette Stroyberg — was in attendance at his funeral.