Jean-Dominique Bauby was the editor of the French fashion magazine, Elle, and the father of two children, Theophile and Celeste.

Bauby suffered a stroke on December 8, 1995, which left him with locked-in syndrome, a condition that paralyzes all voluntary muscles of the body, except, in most cases, the facial muscles-- which allowed Bauby to use his right eye. 

Bauby wrote his memoir The Diving Bell and the Butterfly exclusively through blinking, and it was published on March 7, 1997 in France.  Bauby died two days after.