Gibson’s Other Secret Life
In 1928, Gibson moved to France with her mother, delving into mysterious political intrigue. Her experiences in World War Two are unclear, but the stories circulating about these years would make a good movie. She may have spied for the Germans, or spied for the Allies; Gibson’s loyalties were ambiguous despite her mother’s Fascist sympathies. During World War II the Gestapo arrested her as an anti-Fascist “resistance agitator.” The Nazis sentenced her to prison, a term she served at San Vittore Prison in Milan. Gibson, however, escaped San Vittore in 1944. There are two stories about her release. The first claims an Italian official helped orchestrate Gibson’s escape. The other story says she agreed to spy for the Nazis. There is no verification of either story, but after leaving prison, she returned to Paris for her remaining years. She died in 1946 at age 56 of heart failure.