Descended from French naval officers, Simone Melchior married Jacques-Yves Cousteau in Paris on 12 July 1937. She was an integral part of the many expeditions of film-making and oceanography that made Cousteau famous. She spent years living about Calypso, the converted WWII minesweeper that Cousteau outfitted as an oceanographic vessel. Her two sons, Jean-Michel Cousteau (b. 1938) and Philippe Cousteau (b. 1940 d. 1979) were also active in film-making and marine exploration and conservation.