Their wedding, Haiti's social event of the decade, cost an unprecedented US$ 2 million and was falsely reported to be received enthusiastically by the majority of Haitians.

[10] Michèle Duvalier at first endeared herself to the population by distributing clothes and food to the needy as well as opening several medical clinics and schools for the poor.

[2] In the six weeks following the wedding, Michèle and Jean‑Claude toured Haiti, turning up unannounced at meetings, marketplaces, and other gathering places, which garnered "approving glances and words most everywhere".

[8][15] In 1982, Frantz Bennett, Michèle's brother, was arrested in Puerto Rico for drug trafficking, and began a three‑year jail term.

[8] The National Palace became the scene of opulent costume parties, where the young President once appeared dressed as a Turkish sultan to dole out ten‑thousand‑dollar jewels as door prizes.

Duvalier responded with a 10% reduction in staple food prices, the closing of independent radio stations, a cabinet reshuffle, and a crackdown by police and army units, but these moves failed to dampen the momentum of the popular uprising.

Her papers documented recent spending including US$168,780 for Givenchy clothing, US$270,200 for Boucheron jewellery and US$9,752 for two children's horse saddles at Hermès.

[4] Bennett, who was living with another man in Cannes at the time, contested the decision, flying to the Dominican Republic to obtain a reversal before her husband prevailed in a third court.

She attended with her two children from their marriage, at a chapel on the grounds of the Institution Saint-Louis de Gonzague school in the Delmas district of Port‑au‑Prince.