SAINT-TROPEZ, France - Brigitte Bardot, the world-renowned "se.x. symbol" of the 1960s whose tousled blonde hair and defiant spirit redefined French cinema before she reinvented herself as a polarizing animal rights crusader, has died. She was 91.
According to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, the actress passed away this Sunday at her secluded home in Southern France. While no specific cause of death was released, Bardot had been hospitalized as recently as last month.
A Cultural Earthquake Known globally by her initials, "B.B.", Bardot skyrocketed to international fame in 1956 with And God Created Woman, directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim. The film’s provocative scenes including an improvised nude dance on a table shattered conservative moral codes and established her as a global icon of sexual liberation. By 1969, her features were so synonymous with the French spirit that she became the model for "Marianne," the official national emblem of France.
"I am mourning a legend," French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X, echoing a sentiment felt across a nation that once saw her face on every stamp and coin.
From Glamour to Grassroots Activism In 1973, at the height of her beauty and power, Bardot stunned the world by retiring from cinema at age 39. "Cinema was never my great passion," she later reflected, comparing her struggle with fame to the tragic end of Marilyn Monroe.
She traded the red carpet for the frozen tundra of the Arctic, famously protesting the clubbing of baby seals. Over the next five decades, she became a relentless voice for the voiceless. "Humans are greedy, bottomless predators," she told the AP in 2007. "I don’t care about my past glory. It is nothing compared to an animal suffering."
A Legacy of Contradiction Despite her humanitarian work for animals, Bardot’s later years were marred by controversy. Her fierce nationalism and outspoken criticism of immigration and Islam led to five convictions for inciting racial hatred. Her alignment with far-right figures, including Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen, complicated her legacy in the eyes of the public.
In 2018, she further sparked backlash by dismissing the #MeToo movement as "hypocritical," claiming she enjoyed being complimented on her beauty during her career.
The "Hunted" Star Bardot often spoke of her empathy for animals as a direct result of being "hunted" by the paparazzi. Her personal life marked by four marriages, chronic depression, and a strained relationship with her only son was lived under a relentless microscope.
Environmentalist Paul Watson, a long-time ally, noted, "She was not loyal to the human world. The animals of the world have lost a great friend today."
As fans lay flowers at the gates of her St. Tropez villa, France bids adieu to a woman who was both a symbol of a bygone era of glamour and a fierce, uncompromising warrior for the natural world.