She began her career in show business in 1951 as a drag queen at the cabaret "Chez Madame Arthur" and later at the "Carrousel" in Paris, where she helped launch the career of Bambi, even taking him in at her home during his early days, as well as other, lesser-known performers. Five years later, she underwent gender reassignment surgery at a clinic in Casablanca, thanks to Dr. Georges Burou of the Clinique du Parc, becoming the first French person to do so [citation needed]. She legally changed her name to Jacqueline-Charlotte Dufresnoy two years later [citation needed].

She married her first husband, Francis B., a sports journalist, in a church ceremony on March 10, 1960 [citation needed], causing a scandal. On March 11, 1966, she married Mario Florentin Heyns. During the 1960s, she appeared in several films, though she wasn't particularly drawn to acting. She also recorded three 45 rpm singles during the 1960s.

In 1963, she performed at the Olympia in the show "Chercher la femme" (Looking for the Woman), written and directed by Bruno Coquatrix, with a host of artists including Pierre Doris. From 1970 onwards, she embarked on a series of tours that took her all over the world, from South America to Australia, from North America to Ecuador... From 1978, she settled in Berlin, Germany, where she was the star of one of Berlin's biggest cabarets.

It wasn't until 1986 that she returned to Paris. She landed an extraordinary contract with Madame Arthur, where she had started her career forty years earlier. She appeared on all the television programs, from "Tournez Manège" (The Merry-Go-Round) to "Dossiers de l'écran" (Screen Files), including shows hosted by Frédéric Mitterrand and Thierry Ardisson; in short, everyone wanted Coccinelle again. She took advantage of this period to write an autobiography entitled "Coccinelle par Coccinelle" (Ladybug by Coccinelle). In 1989, she triumphed at the Casino de Paris alongside her friend Pascal Sevran in the revue Paris Casino. In 1990, she was offered a show about her life in which she starred. When the Gulf War broke out, the show was cancelled due to lack of funding. She decided to leave Paris at that point to return to the south of France, a region she had loved since her early days.

From 1992 onwards, she performed in Marseille. On April 11, 1996, she married Thierry Wilson, a drag artist from Michou's cabaret, in Marseille for the third time, live on TF1 during Jean-Marc Morandini's show Tout est possible (Anything is Possible). Seven years later, she took a semi-retirement from show business.

In 2005, she released a "Best Of" CD of her greatest hits on the Marianne Mélodie label.

She spent her final years between the Cabaret LouLou in Marseille, where she diligently attended auditions for regional artists, and her favorite pastime: the beach.

In April 2006, she suffered a stroke, which doctors initially deemed minor, a warning sign. However, a few months later, she suffered a relapse, and after a month in intensive care, Coccinelle died of cardiac arrest at La Timone Hospital in Marseille. In accordance with her wishes, she was cremated discreetly, and her ashes were scattered in a secret location, as stipulated in her last will and testament.