Legendary German-born playboy Gunter Sachs, a former husband of French bombshell Brigitte Bardot, killed himself at his Swiss chalet due to sickness, his family said on Sunday. He was 78.

His relatives released a suicide note to Swiss media written by the swinging 1960s celebrity and photographer in which he explained he was taking his life because of an illness he dubbed “A”.

“The loss of mental control over my life was an undignified condition, which I decided to counter decisively,” the letter signed by Sachs said. He called it the “no-hope illness A”, Swiss news agency SDA reported.

Mr Sachs added that he had always regarded any “threat” he would face “as the only criterion that would lead me to bring my life to an end”.

He outlined symptoms such as forgetfulness that appeared to be consistent with a condition like Alzheimers.

His son Rolf Sachs confirmed the death to German celebrity magazine Bunte, and the German news weekly Focus said he had shot himself on Saturday.

Mr Sachs was a veteran of the go-go 1960s who helped make the French Riviera resort Saint Tropez a playground for rich and beautiful celebrities, such as film star Bardot, who was said to be devastated by the news.

“We called Gunter Sachs’s private secretary who confirmed the suicide to us, but we have no details on the circumstances,” an official at Bardot’s animal rights foundation said.

The source said Ms Bardot “has been informed and is devastated. She had kept close ties with Gunter Sachs, who was a guest when we celebrated 20 years of the found-ation”.

Sachs, who was born in southern Germany, took Swiss citizenship in 1976.

His Vieux Chalet home which overlooks the Swiss resort of Gstaad was guarded by two security agents on Sunday, an AFP photographer said.