Brigitte Bardot, the French former actress, singer, and model who became a pop culture icon during the sexual revolution, died today, December 28, at her home in Saint-Tropez. She was 91, leaving behind an immediately-recognizable but troubled legacy. “A tireless advocate for animal rights, she is a legend who helped shape our imaginations, without ever allowing herself to be confined by them,” France’s Minister Of Culture Rachida Dati said in a statement. “Wildly free and, ultimately, so very French.”
Bardot was born on September 28, 1934 in Paris to a wealthy and conservative Catholic family. Her parents were traditional, strict, and cold towards her, which would directly impact the rebellious lifestyle she’d adopt as she got older. As a child, Bardot pursued ballet, but she began attracting attention from filmmakers after she was photographed for the cover of Elle at 15 years old. In 1952 she appeared in her first film, Jean Boyer’s comedy Crazy For Love, in a minor role. She was cast in a number of small roles throughout the early ’50s and attended the Cannes Film Festival in 1953, during which she helped popularize the then-taboo bikini by wearing one on every beach in southern France.
As Bardot began taking on bigger roles, she became a star with the 1956 drama And God Created Woman, the directorial debut from her then-husband Roger Vadim. The film was a hit in France and beyond; Bardot played a hedonistic, sexually-charged, orphaned 18-year-old, contributing to her “sex kitten” reputation. Bardot juggled more modeling opportunities as she filmed her next few movies: La Parisienne (1957), The Night Heaven Fell (1958), and In Case of Adversity (1958), the latter of which made her France’s highest-paid actress.
Bardot struggled while filming the highly-publicized The Truth (1960). While the film was a massive commercial and critical success, the limelight started to weigh on her. Still, throughout the ’60s Bardot starred in more films popular with international audiences, like Jean-Luc Godard’s Le Mépris (1963) and the Anthony Perkins-co-starring Une ravissante idiote (1964). Meanwhile, Bardot also began her foray into music: She released her debut album Brigitte Bardot Sings in 1963. That album featured the Serge Gainsbourg-written “L’Appareil À Sous,” and the two would continue to work together throughout the next decade.
In 1973 at age 39, Bardot appeared in her final film, The Edifying And Joyous Story Of Colinot, and announced she was subsequently retiring from acting. She used her fame instead to become an animal rights activist, and in 1986 she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation For The Welfare And Protection Of Animals, auctioning off many of her personal belongings to do so.
Bardot often played hedonistic characters on screen, and that rebellious attitude gave way to tumult and controversy in her personal life: Married four times, she admittedly had a habit of being unfaithful in relationships. Her final husband, Bernard d’Ormale served as an advisor to French far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen. Bardot battled depression and attempted suicide a handful of times throughout her life, and was essentially estranged from her one child until the two reconciled in 2018. At times, her animal activism would breach into upholding racist and xenophobic stereotypes, particularly towards Muslims: “I never knowingly wanted to hurt anybody. It is not in my character,” she said after receiving her sixth fine for inciting racial hatred. “Among Muslims, I think there are some who are very good and some hoodlums, like everywhere.”
