Born 1876, the Mata Hari, Margaretha Geertruida Zelle, was the second of four children and only daughter of a successful hatter. As a child, M'greet (a nickname given to her by her father) attended private school and for a short time after, taught school.

At the age of 18, M'greet answered an Amsterdam newspaper ad looking for a wife (placed as a joke) for a 39 year-old Dutch army officer Rudolf Campbell MacCloud. In 1895, Amsterdam, after a three-month engagement, Margaretha Zelle married Rudolf Campbell MacLeod. MacLeod was not the perfect husband, being an alcoholic, womanizer, extremely jealous, and physically abusive to M'greet. However, in the first year of marriage, M'greet gave birth to a son, Norman John. Shortly after the child's birth, Rudolf was reassigned to Java and the family moved. In 1898, a second child, a girl, Jeanne Louise (known by the Malay name, Non), was born. During this time M'greet spent much of her time learning the Malay language and watching Javanese temple dancers, who would inspire her future career.

Rudolf transferred to Sumatra, now a garrison commander. In 1899, while living in Sumatra, the children were poisoned, most likely by a servant, in retaliation of a wrong doing by MacCloud. The boy died but the girl was saved. Their marriage deteriorated and they ultimately separated, with MacCloud taking their daughter. M'greet sued for divorce, won custody of her daughter and compensation from MacCloud but he never paid a penny. M'greet, having no skills and no money, was forced to leave the child with Rudolf. She tried many times to establish contact with her daughter, Non, but was unsuccessful. She even conspired with her maid to kidnap the girl, but Rudolf intervened and the attempt failed.

After nine years of a failed marriage, the loss of her children, and seeking a new life, Margaretha Zelle moved to Paris, changing her name to "Mata Hari" derived from the words Malay mata (eye) and hari (day) or "eye of the day". It was under this name, in 1905, an exotic, bold dancer debuted in the Musée Guimet, an Oriental Art Museum, at the age of 30. She performed almost nude, but never revealed her jewel-covered breasts, claiming her husband had bitten off her nipples in a jealous rage. Nevertheless, she was an overnight success. The risqué nature of her dances became pivotal in elevating the striptease to an art form. Years later she would confide to her friend the Dutch painter, Pieter Van Der Hem, "I never could dance well, people came to see me because I was the first who dared to show myself naked to the public".

Along with her new identity, the Mata Hari also invented a new past, revealing she was born in India to a Brahman family. Her mother, a temple dancer, died while giving birth to her so she was raised in the temple of the god Siva and temple strip dances she performed were sacred poems in which each movement and every word was spiritually motivated by the rules of the sacred texts. The European audience, being ignorant of the specifics of Indian and Southeastern Asian cultures, accepted her background story as the truth.

Mata Hari entered the dancing arena at the rather late age of 30 and by the age of 40, as many middle-aged women do, she gained weight, becoming known more as a courtesan than a dancer, living with a succession of wealthy men but wanting to stay in the world of public entertainment. In 1914, once again, she appeared in a music hall in Germany. The spectators were appalled at the overweight dancer causing her to leave Paris for Germany, in fear for her safety. It was at this time she met the love of her life, Vadime de Massloff, who was under suspicion of being a spy. She came and went from Paris many times warranting the French to be suspicious of her as well.

In 1917, Mata Hari was arrested by the French, accused of being a spy. Her guilt, though still being debated, was submitted to a two-day trial and she was convicted of spying for Germany and causing the death of thousands of French soldiers.

Although rumors at the time claimed the Mata Hari went to her death nude, removing her veil, and staring directly at the firing squad, even throwing a kiss, in the hopes they would show mercy to her but the truth was she remained full dressed and the firing squad had no mercy. Mata Hari was executed by the French firing squad on October 15th, 1917 at the age of 42.