The actress Brigitte Bardot, a Frenchwoman who left her mark on 20th century cinema and culture, died this Sunday (12/28). She was 91 years old and had been hospitalized in a hospital in Toulon, France, since November. The news of her death was confirmed by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
Brigitte Bardot left her mark on French and North American cinema with a career considered short, which ended when she was only 39 years old. After years in the spotlight, Brigitte decided to retire to live a more reclusive life, but found herself embroiled in a series of controversies following her retirement.
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After leaving the cinema, Brigitte Bardot became an activist for the animal cause
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Brigitte Bardot
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Image of Brigitte Bardot in the 1968 film Shalaco
Career
The actress was born in Paris, France on September 28, 1934, and started in the world of the arts at a very young age. She studied classical ballet throughout her childhood and was hired as a model for the French magazine Elle at the age of 15. It was around this time that she caught the attention of 22-year-old filmmaker Roger Vadim, who sparked Brigitte’s interest in becoming an actress.
In 1952, a few months after turning 18, Brigitte married Vadim and the two worked together in the cinema, in the film that launched the actress’s career: Deus Criou a Mulher (1956).
It did not take long for her to attract the attention of American cinema, a success linked to the fact that she possessed a natural freedom uncommon among American stars. Throughout his career, he starred in 40 successful films, including the Academy Award-nominated The Truth (1960), Private Life (1962), Contempt (1963) and Viva Maria! (1965).
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In the meantime, his personal life has undergone several changes. She separated from Vadim in 1957 and married Jacques Charrier in 1959, with whom she had their only son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier. Later, she also separated from Jacques and married the German Gunter Sachs. The two were married from 1966 to 1969.
After all her successes in the cinema, Brigitte decided to retire at the age of 39, in 1973. She aimed for a more private life, far from scandals and media attention.
Post-retirement controversies
After retiring from cinema, Brigitte Bardot devoted herself fully to animal activism by creating the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986. She led campaigns against hunting, laboratory tests, the use of fur, bullfighting and other practices.
At the same time, over the decades, the actress has become known for her conservative and controversial positions on immigration, French cultural identity and racial plurality. These opinions were reinforced with the book Un Cri dans le Silence (2003), in which the actress criticizes Islam, immigration and also takes a stance against adoption by LGBTQIA+ couples.
During the Me Too movement in 2018, Brigitte further sparked controversy by downplaying harassment complaints filed by actresses, saying many of them were exaggerated or opportunistic.
“There are a lot of actresses who encourage producers to get a role. Then, to make people talk about them, they say that they have suffered harassment. In reality, more than that benefits them, it hurts them,” he told the French magazine Paris Match at the time.
In 2021, she was ordered to pay a fine for comments deemed racist referring to the inhabitants of a French island, saying they were natives who were “preserving their wild genes”.
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