Brigitte Bardot, the French screen legend whose beauty and charisma defined an era, has died at the age of 91, her foundation announced on December 28, 2025. Born in Paris on September 28, 1934, Bardot’s journey from a shy, bespectacled child to an international icon is a story of dazzling highs, deep personal struggles, and an enduring legacy that stretches far beyond the silver screen.
Bardot’s ascent began early. At just 15, she graced the cover of Elle magazine, launching a modeling career that would soon transition into film. The teenage Bardot, with a decade of ballet training and the poise of a seasoned performer, quickly caught the eye of director Roger Vadim. Their marriage at her age of 18 was as much a personal union as a professional collaboration, with Vadim orchestrating her transformation into a cinematic sensation.
It was Vadim’s 1956 film And God Created Woman that catapulted Bardot to global fame. Dancing the mambo barefoot, her tousled hair and uninhibited energy radiated a sexual magnetism rarely seen in mainstream cinema. According to AFP, Bardot’s performance “marked a decisive break from the demure heroines of the previous era.” She became the very embodiment of liberated femininity, scandalizing censors and captivating audiences worldwide. The initials “BB”—pronounced bébé in French—soon became synonymous with a new kind of woman: playful, passionate, and unapologetically herself.
Her allure was not limited to France. As Reuters noted, Bardot’s image inspired artists and musicians alike—Andy Warhol painted her portrait, and a young Bob Dylan reportedly wrote his first song about her. Simone de Beauvoir, the eminent feminist philosopher, captured Bardot’s unique appeal in a 1959 Esquire article: “She follows her inclinations. She eats when she is hungry and makes love with the same unceremonious simplicity… It is her very substance.” De Beauvoir concluded, “I hope she will mature, but not change.”
Yet, beneath the sun-dappled glamour, Bardot’s life was marked by turbulence. Her personal relationships—four marriages, numerous affairs, and a string of highly publicized heartbreaks—became fodder for a fascinated public. As reported by The Guardian, at the peak of her fame, 47% of all French conversation was about Bardot, eclipsing even politics. But fame came at a steep price. Bardot herself reflected, “Nobody can imagine how horrific it was, such an ordeal… I couldn’t go on living like that.” Her struggles with depression led to multiple suicide attempts, once being found unconscious at just 26 after a failed attempt on the French Riviera.
Bardot’s artistry extended beyond acting. Her breathy singing voice, especially in collaborations with Serge Gainsbourg, produced hits that were as provocative as they were popular. The 1967 duet “Je t’aime… moi non plus” was shelved due to its eroticism, but other songs like “Harley Davidson” and “Bonnie & Clyde” cemented her status as a multi-talented star. Bardot even became a symbol of France itself, modeling for a bust of Marianne, the national personification, in the late 1960s.
Motherhood, however, was a role Bardot struggled with profoundly. She gave birth to her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, on January 11, 1960, during a home birth in Paris. In her memoir Initiales B.B., Bardot wrote with painful honesty: “I’m not made to be a mother… 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.” After divorcing Jacques Charrier in 1962, custody of Nicolas was awarded to his father, and the boy was mostly raised by his paternal grandparents. Bardot later admitted, “I couldn’t be Nicolas’ roots because I was completely uprooted, unbalanced, lost in that crazy world,” as quoted in The Times.
Bardot’s relationship with her son remained distant yet respectful. Ahead of the release of her memoir, Nicolas and his father unsuccessfully tried to prevent certain passages from publication. Over time, Bardot became increasingly protective of Nicolas’s privacy. In a 2024 Paris Match interview, she explained she had promised him not to speak about him publicly, a boundary she honored in her later years. Nicolas, for his part, chose a quiet life, building his own family far from the spotlight, yet remaining an integral—if private—part of Bardot’s legacy.
By 1973, Bardot had grown weary of the film industry, declaring in a TV interview, “I will have given 20 years of my life to cinema, that’s enough.” She retired after 42 films, retreating to her beloved Saint-Tropez. There, surrounded by animals, Bardot found a new sense of purpose. “This is my only battle, the only direction I want to give my life,” she said in 2013, as reported by Reuters. In 1986, she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals, auctioning off personal treasures to fund her cause. Her activism became legendary—she traveled to the Arctic to protest seal culling, campaigned against bullfighting and animal testing, and fought for more humane practices in French abattoirs.
Her later life, however, was not without controversy. Bardot’s outspoken views on immigration, Islam, and homosexuality led to multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred. Between 1997 and 2008, French courts fined her six times, including a €15,000 penalty for describing Muslims as “this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts.” In 1992, Bardot married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the far-right National Front, and later publicly endorsed Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen. “Feminism isn’t my thing; I like men,” she remarked in a 2025 interview with BFM TV, distancing herself from the movement she was often associated with.
Despite—or perhaps because of—her contradictions, Bardot’s influence endures. Her signature style, from tousled blond hair to gingham dresses, is revived regularly in the fashion world. Documentaries and books continue to celebrate her rare impact on French cinema and culture. As she once said, “I gave my beauty and my youth to men. I am going to give my wisdom and experience to animals.”
Brigitte Bardot is survived by her husband Bernard d’Ormale and her son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier. Her life, marked by brilliance and shadows, leaves a legacy as complex and captivating as the woman herself.
