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Marie-Olympe de Gouges (formally Marie Gouze) was born into a wealthy family, and although her mother was privately tutored, she had no actual formal education herself.cite-ref-8[8] Reportedly illiterate, she was said to dictate to a secretary.cite-ref-9[9]

Gouze was married on 24 October 1765 to Louis Yves Aubry, a caterer, against her will.cite-ref-mousset14-15-10-0[10] The heroine of her semi-autobiographical novel Mémoires is fourteen at her wedding; the new Marie Aubry herself was seventeen.cite-ref-mousset14-15-10-1[10] Her novel strongly decried the marriage: "I was married to a man I did not love and who was neither rich nor well-born. I was sacrificed for no reason that could make up for the repugnance I felt for this man."cite-ref-11[11] Marie's substantially larger fortune allowed her new husband Louis to leave his employer and start his own business. On 29 August 1766, she gave birth to their son, Pierre Aubry. That November, a destructive flood of the river Tarn caused Louis' death.cite-ref-mousset16-12-0[12] She never married again, calling the institution of marriage "the tomb of trust and love".cite-ref-auto3-13-0[13]

Known under the name Marie Aubry, after her husband's death she changed her name to Olympe de Gouges, from her surname (Gouze) and adding her mother's middle name, Olympe.cite-ref-14[14] Soon after, she began a relationship with the wealthy Jacques Biétrix de Rozières, a businessman from Lyon.cite-ref-hesse2006-15-0[15]

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