Sex symbol and myth Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91
Half vamp, half Lolita: Brigitte Bardot became a star overnight with her sex appeal. But at the height of her career, she celebrated her farewell. Now the French film legend has died at the age of 91.
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- Film icon, sex symbol, animal rights activist, right-wing sympathizer and supporter of the French "yellow vest" movement: Brigitte Bardot made many headlines throughout her life.
- The BB, as the Frenchwoman from an arch-conservative Parisian family is also known, has died at the age of 91.
- In addition to her career as an actress, Bardot was also a singer and released several albums and singles. She largely retired from show business in 1973.
More than 50 books: more has been written about Brigitte Bardot than almost any other French star.
The list of biographies about the sex symbol of the 1960s is now almost as long as the list of films. One of the books is called "The Enigma of Brigitte Bardot".
And rightly so.
Hardly any other film legend has raised as many questions as Brigitte Bardot, who has now died at the age of 91. This was reported by the AFP news agency, citing the Fondation Brigitte Bardot.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to the late actress as "a legend of the century". The film icon embodied a life of freedom, Macron said on Platform X.
"French existence, universal splendor. She touched us", the article continues. Among other things, Macron recalls Bardot's films, her voice, her fame and her generous passion for animals.
Bardot's life was a story of extremes
Brigitte Bardot's life was a story of extremes. At the height of her fame, the actress and entertainer called time on her career after more than 45 films and 80 songs.
The reason: During this time, her life was pointless and superficial, as she wrote in her biography "Tears of Struggle", published in 2018. The time was horrific, Bardot recalled.
A martyrdom.
In addition to her acting career, Bardot was also a singer and released several albums and singles. In 1973, she largely retired from show business.
In later years, she made a name for herself primarily as a committed animal rights activist and with controversial statements on immigration policy.
Her appearances once led to hysteria and mass riots. BB, as the Frenchwoman born in 1934 to an arch-conservative Parisian family is also known, was one of the most beautiful, sought-after and erotic film stars at the time.
Only 95 minutes were enough to make her a star
95 minutes were enough to make her a world star in 1956. In the film "Und immer lockt das Weib", she plays a lascivious young woman looking for adventures with men.
In the drama, she lolls on the sands of St. Tropez in an Eve costume. In a France where dancing barefoot was already a minor scandal, the seductive pouty blonde broke all taboos. She shocked an entire nation.
"The Truth", "Contempt" and "Viva Maria": films with which Brigitte Bardot not only went down in the history of cinema. She created a new image of women who were allowed to be sexy and self-confident. She made no secret of her affairs.
While her husband Roger Vadim was filming "Und immer lockt das Weib" with her, she began a relationship with her film partner Jean-Louis Trintignant. Bardot was married four times and had a son, whose upbringing she largely left to his father, actor Jacques Charrier.
Her departure from BB was radical and final
She went from one extreme to the other in 1973 with her decision to flee the hype and abuse and retire to her villa "La Madrague" in St. Tropez. Bardot was not yet 40 years old at the time. Her departure was radical and final.
With the same uncompromising attitude that characterized her career, she dedicated herself to the fight against seal hunting, animal testing and cruel slaughter methods.
She sold part of her possessions and founded the animal welfare organization Fondation Brigitte Bardot in 1986, which is based in Paris and employs around 40 people.
For 50 years, Bardot lived in seclusion in her house on the beach in St. Tropez together with her four-legged friends, which she rescued from animal shelters and circuses.
Brigitte Bardot's uncompromising attitude often did her harm
The fact that her life for and with animals was met with much malice and sarcasm bothered her little. Bardot was aware of her public image. "I used to have the world at my feet because I was beautiful, famous and sought-after, and now I'm just a nuisance," she explains in her biography "Tears of Struggle".
Brigitte Bardot's radicalism and uncompromising attitude often caused her harm. She was condemned several times for controversial statements, whether on immigrants or the ritual slaughter of sheep.
In 2012, she called for the election of right-wing populist Marine Le Pen. She was an admirable woman who was the only one to denounce the scandal surrounding half-meat, explained Bardot.
In the last years of her life, she made the headlines above all for her misanthropic statements and publications against gays, France's left, the homeless and illegal immigrants.
She was always very unstable in her political views, BB admitted in her biography "Tears of Struggle". She always voted for those who supported her cause. These are said to have included the conservative Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, the socialist Lionel Jospin and the left-wing Jean-Luc Mélenchon.
Bardot: "I say what I think, whether I like it or not"
In 2019, Brigitte Bardot was photographed wearing a yellow high-visibility vest - as a sign of her solidarity with the "yellow vests". At the time, the movement was protesting against French President Emmanuel Macron's social and economic policies.
She understands what these people go through, she understands their daily anger, she said in an interview with the regional newspaper "La Depêche". All the money is spent senselessly, on politicians traveling in private planes and for chauffeurs, while others don't have a penny left, she continued.
"I will say what I think all my life, whether I like it or not," is Brigitte Bardot's motto. She stuck to it for more than half a century - and fed the headlines and the pages of numerous books.
