Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French actress who rose to global fame in the 1950s and later abandoned cinema to dedicate her life to animal protection, has died at the age of 91, her foundation announced on Sunday.
In a statement sent to AFP, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed her passing but did not disclose the exact date or location of her death.
Bardot had been hospitalised in October and later dismissed false reports 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 read.
Tributes quickly poured in for the screen icon, affectionately known in France as “BB,” whose influence extended far beyond cinema.
Born in Paris on September 28, 1934, Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic family. She was married four times and had one son, Nicolas, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.
Her international breakthrough came in 1956 with And God Created Woman, a film that transformed her into a global symbol of sensuality and freedom. She went on to appear in around 50 films before retiring from acting in 1973.
Explaining her decision to step away from fame, Bardot once said she was “sick of being beautiful every day,” choosing instead to focus on rescuing and defending animals.
French President Emmanuel Macron described her as a defining figure of the 20th century.
“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 leaving the spotlight, Bardot withdrew to her home in Saint-Tropez, where she devoted herself almost entirely to animal rights activism. Her commitment reportedly began while filming The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot, when she rescued a goat destined to be killed by buying it and keeping it in her hotel room.
She later established the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986. According to its website, the organisation now counts about 70,000 donors and roughly 300 staff members worldwide.
Reflecting on her life in a 2024 AFP interview ahead of her 90th birthday, Bardot said:
“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 added that she lived in “silent solitude” at her home, La Madrague, surrounded by nature and content to be “fleeing humanity.”
Despite her cultural importance, Bardot remained a controversial figure. She was convicted five times for hate speech, largely over remarks targeting Muslims, as well as comments about residents of the French island of Réunion, whom she once called “savages.”
A vocal supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Bardot declared herself “against the Islamisation of France” in a 2003 book, writing that “our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.”
Jordan Bardella, leader of the far-right National Rally party, was among those who paid tribute following her death.
“Today the French people have lost the Marianne they so loved, whose beauty astonished the world,” he wrote on X.
In her final book, Mon BBcedaire (“My BB Alphabet”), released just weeks before her death, Bardot criticised what she described as a “dull, sad, submissive” France and took aim at her hometown of Saint-Tropez, now crowded with wealthy tourists she once helped draw there. The book also included derogatory remarks about gay and transgender people.
Bardot is survived by her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.
Reflecting on her own death, she had once expressed a wish for simplicity, saying she did not want “a crowd of idiots” at her funeral and preferred a modest wooden cross over her grave in her garden, identical to those marking the resting places of her animals.
