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Brigitte Bardot, the French film legend whose fame in the 1950s and 1960s redefined global stardom before she walked away from cinema to focus on animal welfare, has died at the age of 91, according to her foundation.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed her death in a message sent to AFP, describing her as its founder and president who gave up a celebrated artistic career to dedicate her life to defending animals. The organisation did not reveal details surrounding the time or place of her passing. Bardot had been hospitalised in October and later dismissed false online claims of her death in November.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” the statement said.
Known universally as “BB,” Bardot was born in Paris on September 28, 1934, into a conservative Catholic family. She married four times and had one son, Nicolas, with actor Jacques Charrier.
Her rise to international fame began with the 1956 film And God Created Woman, which turned her into a cultural phenomenon and symbol of liberation. She went on to appear in roughly 50 films before retiring from acting in 1973.
Explaining her departure from the spotlight, Bardot once remarked that she was “sick of being beautiful every day,” choosing instead to redirect her life toward protecting animals.
French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to her legacy, describing her as a defining figure of modern France.
“With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” he wrote on X.
“We mourn a legend of the century.”
After stepping away from acting, Bardot settled in the Mediterranean town of Saint-Tropez, where she lived a secluded life devoted to animal advocacy. Her commitment reportedly began during the filming of The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot, when she rescued a goat destined for slaughter by buying it and keeping it in her hotel room.
She later established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986, which today counts around 70,000 donors and employs approximately 300 people, according to its official records.
In an interview with AFP in 2024, ahead of her 90th birthday, Bardot reflected on her life with pride.
“I’m very proud of the first chapter of my life. It gave me fame, and that fame allows me to protect animals — the only cause that truly matters to me,” she said.
She added that she lived in “silent solitude” at her home, La Madrague, surrounded by nature and content to be “fleeing humanity.”
Despite her enduring fame, Bardot remained a polarising public figure. She was convicted five times for hate speech, largely over comments directed at Muslims and, on one occasion, residents of the French island of Réunion, whom she described as “savages.”
A long-time supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Bardot once wrote in a 2003 book that she was “against the Islamisation of France,” arguing that “our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.”
Jordan Bardella, president of the far-right National Rally party, was among the first political figures to react to her death.
“Today the French people have lost the Marianne they so loved, whose beauty astonished the world,” he posted on X.
Only weeks before her death, Bardot released a final book titled Mon BBcedaire (“My BB Alphabet”), in which she criticised what she called a “dull, sad, submissive” France and lamented changes to her hometown of Saint-Tropez, now crowded with wealthy tourists drawn in part by her fame. The book also contained derogatory comments about gay and transgender people.
Bardot is survived by her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier. Speaking previously about her funeral wishes, she said she hoped to avoid “a crowd of idiots” and wanted a simple wooden cross placed over her grave in her garden, the same type used for her animals.
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