Brigitte Bardot, the French actress and global sex symbol who later became an animal rights activist, has died at the age of 91.
PARIS: French actress and global icon Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91. Her foundation announced the news on Sunday, though the cause of death was not immediately known.
Bardot shot to international fame in the 1956 film “And God Created Woman”. Her role, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim, scandalised censors and captivated audiences with its liberated femininity.
She became a definitive symbol of 1950s and 1960s France. Her influence extended far beyond cinema, inspiring artists like Bob Dylan and Andy Warhol.
Feminist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir lionised Bardot’s sense of freedom in a 1959 article. “B.B. does not try to scandalise,” de Beauvoir wrote. “She follows her inclinations.”
Despite her fame, Bardot found celebrity life isolating and described it as an ordeal. Her personal life included four marriages, widely reported affairs, and documented struggles with depression.
She also enjoyed a successful music career, notably collaborating with Serge Gainsbourg. Bardot made her last of 42 films in 1973, declaring the cinema world “rotten” before withdrawing from public life.
She then settled in Saint-Tropez and dedicated herself to animal welfare. “This is my only battle, the only direction I want to give my life,” Bardot said in 2013.
She established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals in 1986. Her later years were also marked by controversial far-right political sympathies and convictions for inciting racial hatred.
Bardot was fined multiple times by French courts for comments targeting France’s Muslim community. She married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front, in 1992.
Her legacy as a fashion and pop culture icon endured for decades. In a 2025 interview, she reflected on her dual legacy. “I don’t think about it,” she said of her film career, “but I don’t reject it, because it’s thanks to it that I’m known everywhere in the world as someone who defends animals.”
