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Researchers Question The Identity Of France's Oldest Person

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. The woman believed to be the oldest person who ever lived maybe wasn't. Two researchers now suggest Jeanne Calment of France may not have been 122 years old when she died in 1997. Instead, they hypothesize it was actually her 99-year-old daughter who had assumed her identity after she died. The French researcher who helped validate Calment's age, Jean-Marie Robine, says the new theory is false. Do you have any idea how many people would have needed to lie? It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.