Brigitte Bardot Dies: Iconic French Actress Was 91
What To Know
- Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French actress and animal rights activist, has died at the age of 91.
- Rising to fame in the 1950s and 1960s with films like And God Created Woman, Bardot became a global sex symbol.
- After retiring from entertainment, Bardot dedicated her life to animal welfare.
Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French actress, is dead at 91.
On Sunday, Dec. 28, a statement from Bardot’s animal rights foundation announced her death.
“The Brigitte Bardot Foundation pays tribute to the memory of an exceptional woman who gave everything and gave up everything for a world more respectful of animals,” the statement, initially shared with the news agency, Agence France-Presse, read, per NPR. “Her legacy lives on through the actions and struggles the Foundation continues with the same passion and the same fidelity to her ideals.”
Details about the time and place of her death were not revealed, nor was Bardot’s official cause of death.
In the late ’50s and ’60s, she earned the nickname “Sex Kitten” and was best known for the 1956 film And God Created Woman. She also notably starred in movies like The Truth (1960), Love on a Pillow (1962), Contempt (1963), and many others. Bardot drew massive crowds to theaters and helped make foreign films popular with Americans during a time when Hollywood prohibited nudity and honest talk of sex.
Everett Collection
Following her fame as an actress, model, fashion icon, and singer, Bardot focused her attention on animal rights.
“I gave my beauty and my youth to men, and now I am giving my wisdom and experience, the best of me, to animals,” she said at a 1987 auction of her memorabilia to raise money for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, per CNN.
She had one son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, who was raised by his paternal grand parents and with whom she had a distant and strained relationship.
“I’m not made to be a mother,” Bardot confessed in her 1990 memoir Initiales B.B., per People. “I’m not adult enough — I know it’s horrible to have to admit that, but I’m not adult enough to take care of a child.”
Bardot was married four times—to Roger Vadim (1952–1957), Jacques Charrier (1959–1963), Gunter Sachs (1966–1969), and Bernard d’Ormale (1992–2025). Additionally, she was romantically linked with famous men such as Warren Beatty, Nino Ferrer, and Serge Gainsbourg.
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