Brigitte Bardot, Actor And Animal Rights Activist, Dead At 91

Note: This article includes mentions of attempted suicide and racial insensitivity.

Actress, sex kitten, and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has died at the age of 91, according to The New York Times. Her cause of death was not revealed in a statement from her foundation, which read, "The Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces with great sadness the death of its founder and president, Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer who chose to give up her prestigious career to devote her life and energy to defending animals and her foundation."

Bardot was a Paris-born model, dancer, and actor who found fame internationally in films like 1956's "... And God Created Woman." Though Bardot was best known in the 1950s and 1960s as a sex symbol and trend-setting fashion icon, she much preferred to be known as an animal rights activist. Bardot felt that being a celebrity robbed her of a normal life and hated the attention, which she said caused her severe stress. In the 1970s, she decided to ditch Hollywood and retired, refusing every role that was offered to her afterward. While she devoted her life thereafter to making the world a better place for animals, she also became a controversial figure due to her racially insensitive comments  — and repeated fines for making them — over the years. 

"I know what it feels like to be hunted," Bardot revealed in her memoir, "Tears of Battle: An Animal Rights Memoir" (via The Guardian). "When I said goodbye to this job, to this life of opulence and glitter, images and adoration, the quest to be desired, I was saving my life ... Humans have hurt me. Deeply. And it is only with animals, with nature, that I found peace."

Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28, 1934, in Paris, France. As a young child, she took dance classes and excelled in ballet, winning acceptance into the Conservatoire de Paris. She also began modeling and appeared on the cover of Elle magazine in 1950 when she was 15 years old. Her cover caught the attention of aspiring director Roger Vadim, who got her an audition for the film "Les Lauriers Sont Coupés." Though the film was never made, it inspired Bardot to pursue an acting career, and she married Vadim when she was 18 years old.

In 1952, Bardot appeared on the big screen in the comedy "Le Trou Normand" ("Crazy for Love"). In 1956, Vadim directed her in "Et Dieu Créa la Femme" ("... And God Created Woman") and then "Les Bijoutiers du Claire de Lune" ("The Night Heaven Fell"). In the 1960s, she starred in a variety of other films focusing on her sexuality, including "La Vie Privée" ("A Very Private Affair").

As she became more and more famous for her beauty and sensual roles, Bardot also became one of the best-known sex symbols of the era. Her iconic hairstyle and fashion choices were — and are still — trend-setting. Still, the attention got to her. "My life was totally turned upside down," she told CNN in 2007. "I was followed, spied upon, adored, insulted. My private life became public. Overnight, I found myself imprisoned, a gilded prison but a prison nonetheless."

Brigitte Bardot and Roger Vadim divorced in 1957 after rumors surfaced of Bardot having an affair with her co-star Jean-Louis Trintignant. However, Bardot and Vadim remained friends and worked together on subsequent films throughout Bardot's film career.

In 1959, Bardot married actor Jacques Charrier and gave birth to her first and only child, Nicolas. Bardot did not want the pregnancy and did not have a relationship with her son, who was raised by Charrier's family. Bardot also struggled with depression and attempted suicide when she was 26 years old. "I'm not made to be a mother," Bardot said, according to The Sydney Morning Herald. "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."

In 1966, she married German millionaire Gunter Sachs and reportedly attempted suicide again during their marriage. The couple got divorced in 1969. Bardot then married the far-right politician Bernard d'Ormale, a former adviser to a far-right politician, in secret in 1992. In 2023, d'Ormale told the press that Bardot had been treated for breathing issues after an incident at their home in France during a heat wave. "It happens at 88 years old," he said. "She must not make useless efforts."

If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).

Brigitte Bardot officially retired in 1973 and devoted her life to animal rights.  In 1979, she campaigned against the killing of baby seals in Canada, telling consumers to stop buying sealskin coats. Though her campaigning caused Canadians to misunderstand which coats they were supposed to boycott, as they stopped buying brown coats made from adult seals but continued to buy white coats made from baby seals, activists believe her work helped dramatically change the public's opinion on fur coats.

Bardot created the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals in 1986. She then famously auctioned off several valuable assets, including jewelry, to help fund the foundation in its early years. When CNN asked Bardot in 2007 who she would like to work with if she were still acting, she demurred. "Oh la la! The page has turned," she said. "Cinema is finished for me."

However, in her later life, Bardot was back in the spotlight for racially insensitive comments. The New York Post reported that she came under fire for using racial slurs against Muslim communities and "inciting racial hatred." In 2019, she made racist remarks about people living on the French island of Reunion in her criticism of their treatment of animals. A high-ranking official of Reunion filed a lawsuit against her in 2019, and in 2021, she was ordered to pay a fine of $23,100 — her sixth fine for making racist comments.

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