“It is with great sadness that the Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces the death of its founder and president, the world-famous actress and singer Brigitte Bardot, who chose to leave her prestigious career to devote her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” the foundation’s statement said, without specifying the time and place of death.
Bardot became a global star after the 1956 film …And God Made Woman, and went on to appear in around 50 more films before quitting acting in 1973 to focus on animal rights.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Bardot on Sunday, calling her a legend of the 20th century.
“With her films, her voice, her dazzling brilliance, her initials (BB), her grief, her generous passion for animals and the face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,”
he wrote on the “X” platform, referring to the French republic’s symbol of women in art. “We mourn the legend of the century.”
Born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, Bardot grew up in a wealthy, traditional Catholic family. She was married four times and had one child, Nicolas, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.
She turned away from the celebrity lifestyle to care for abandoned animals, saying she was “tired of being beautiful every day”.
Bardot retired to her home in the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez, where she devoted herself to fighting for animals.
In 1986, she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which now has 70,000 donors and about 300 employees.
“I am very proud of the first chapter of my life,” she told AFP in an interview in 2024, ahead of her 90th birthday.
“It gave me fame, and that fame allows me to protect animals, the only thing that really matters to me.”
She added that she lives in “quiet solitude” at her home in La Madrague, surrounded by nature and content to “escape humanity”.
Unlike other French New Wave stars, Bardot was a controversial figure who alienated many fans with her political views.
She was convicted five times for hate speech, mainly about Muslims, but also about the people of the French island of Reunion, whom she described as “savages”.
Bardot was a supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen.
In a 2003 book, Bardot declared that she was “against the Islamization of France,”
mentioning that “our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have given their lives for centuries to push out future invaders”.
In her last book, “Mon BBcedaire” (“My BB Alphabet”), published a few weeks before her death, she criticized “boring, sad, submissive” France, and Saint-Tropez, now overrun with wealthy tourists.
The book also contained offensive remarks about gays and transgender people.