Born in Canada and stemming from a Russian aristocratic family, Diane Bataille (born Diane Kotchoubey de Beauharnais) was married to the writer Georges Bataille, whom she had met in 1943, until his death in 1962.

Taking a cue from her husband, she penned an erotic fiction in English, The Whip Angels, for the Olympia Press (also under the pseudonyms 'XXX' and 'Selena Warfield').