Brigitte Bardot, former sex symbol turned animal activist, dies at 91
Brigitte Bardot, the French actress who established the benchmark for a generation of female sex symbols in the 1960s and dedicated her later years to animal rights, has passed away. She was 91.
Her passing was announced on Sunday in a by her foundation, which noted Bardot had opted to leave behind “her prestigious movie career to dedicate her life and energy” to advocating for animal welfare. No additional details about her death were provided.
A symbol of beauty for millions of men, Bardot ushered in an era of curvy, pouting, carefree actresses with her portrayal of a confident small-town seductress in And God Created Woman (1956). During the 1970s, she served as the model for the female representation of the French Republic whose likeness adorns stamps and coins.
However, Bardot retired from filmmaking at age 39, and she stirred controversy with remarks about marginalized members of society.
In 2004, a Paris court fined her €5,000 (about $6,100 at the time) for expressing “disgust” with France’s tolerance of Muslim immigrants in her 2003 autobiography, A Cry in the Silence. The book also referred to gay people as “freaks” and claimed the unemployed do not want to work.
In a 2018 interview with Paris Match, she criticized the #MeToo movement against men who abuse positions of power, stating many actresses claiming sexual harassment had willingly offered their bodies to advance their careers. Unlike Catherine Deneuve, who also spoke out against the movement, Bardot did not back down or apologize.
Her personal life was as tumultuous as the women she portrayed. She was married four times and once said, “It’s better to be unfaithful than to be faithful and not want to be.”
Playboy magazine ranked her No. 4 on its 1999 list of the 20th century’s 100 sexiest stars, behind Raquel Welch, Jayne Mansfield and, at No. 1, Marilyn Monroe.
In 1986, she founded a Paris-based that supports animal refuges, sterilizes stray cats and dogs and funds projects including a horse-veterinarian center in Tunisia and a leper farm in India. The organization has also pushed for restrictions on bullfighting, whale hunting and fur wearing.
“I gave my youth and beauty to men,” she said in a 1999 interview. “I’m now giving my wisdom and experience to animals.”
Model at 13
Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born on Sept. 28, 1934, in Paris and was already dancing and modeling at age 13. She graced the cover of Elle magazine at 15 and made her first film at 18.
The release of And God Created Woman catapulted Bardot to international stardom and turned Saint-Tropez into a major resort. While the film — about a woman torn between two brothers — contains no content that would qualify as nudity today, its scenes of Bardot undressing and dancing barefoot to African music scandalized viewers in France and America. Bardot was married to the film’s director, Roger Vadim, at the time.
Bardot went on to collaborate with some of France’s top directors of her generation, including Henri-Georges Clouzot on La Verite (“The Truth”) in 1960, Louis Malle on Vie Privee (“A Very Private Affair”) in 1962, and Jean-Luc Godard on Mepris (“Contempt”) in 1963. She made her final film in 1973. She also released French pop songs in the 1960s and 1970s, including hits with the late singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg.
Bardot wanted to marry Vadim when she was 16, but her parents forced her to wait until she turned 18. They stayed together for five years before divorcing. He later married actress Jane Fonda.
Bardot’s second husband was actor Jacques Charrier, whom she married in 1959 after meeting him on the set of Babette Goes to War. They divorced after three years, during which they had Bardot’s only child, Nicolas-Jacques. Her 1966 marriage to Gunter Sachs, a German photographer and art collector, lasted three years. Sachs committed suicide in 2011, seeking relief from an incurable degenerative disease, according to his family.
Her 1992 marriage to Bernard d’Ormale, a member of the anti-immigrant National Front party, linked her to France’s far-right.
Bardot stated in interviews she wanted to be buried at her villa in Saint-Tropez on the French Riviera. She told Paris Match in 2018 that between the villa and a nearby farm, she owned about 50 dogs, cats, donkeys, pigs, sheep, goats, geese and turtles.
“Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in a post on . “She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”