Decades of heavy drinking contributed to Beauvoir’s death from cirrhosis

Evidence

Beauvoir was afflicted by cirrhosis of the liver, not unconnected with years of heavy drinking. Complications of this disease led to her being hospitalised on 20 March 1986; after several weeks recovering from surgery and struggling with congestion of the lungs, she slipped into a coma and died on 14 April 1986. — Sarah Bakewell, At the Existentialist Café, 983

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the book’s broader portrayal of the existentialists’ punishing self-destructive habits (Sartre’s drugs and drink, the group’s amphetamines) as part of their lifestyle.