Actress and singer Brigitte Bardot, icon of French cinema and erotic symbol of the 1950s and 1960s, died at the age of 91, the foundation that bears her name reported Sunday on social networks.
The star of ‘And God Created Woman’ (1956), ‘The Truth’ (1960) and ‘Contempt’ (1963) was one of the last great legends of French cinema still alive after the death of Alain Delon, who passed away in 2024 at the age of 88.
The French public agency AFP detailed that the death occurred at Bardot’s residence in La Madrague, in Saint-Tropez (French Riviera), for causes that were not disclosed at the moment.
Along with her short but dizzying career on the big screen, Brigitte Bardot, known by the acronym BB, also had a successful and longer career in music.
The single ‘J’ai t’aime…. moi, non plus’, originally recorded in 1967 with her former lover and ‘enfant terrible’ of ‘la chanson française’ Serge Gainsbourg.
On that subject, many still blush at Bardot’s more than sensual moans.
After the movies, the famous actress began a second life in her activism in favor of animal protection.
His photos in Canada denouncing the seal hunt in the 1970s are still famous.
Freedom fighter
Her films, her voice, her softening gaze, her initials, her chagrins, her genuine passion for animals, her face becoming Marianne, Brigitte Bardot incarnated a life of freedom. French existence, universal ecclat. She touched us. We are living a legend of the century.
– Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) December 28, 2025
However, Bardot also stood out publicly for her support of reactionary and xenophobic positions and was close to Jean-Marie Le Pen and his daughter, the current leader of the far-right Marine Le Pen.
She also created controversy among the feminist movement for her vision of male-female relationships.
The interpreter had been secluded for some time in her two properties in the resort of Saint-Tropez, with serious walking difficulties and far from public life.
Political reactions were not long in coming.
French President Emmanuel Macron considered that Bardot embodied “a life of freedom” that brought “a universal radiance to France.”
“Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face turned into Marianne; Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom.
French existence, universal brilliance. She moved us. We mourn a legend of the century,” Macron said on ‘X’.
Marine Le Pen, leader of the French ultra-right with whom Bardot was ideologically close, showed her “immense regret” for the death of the actress and considered that she was an “extraordinarily French” personality.
The death of Bardot, who had been hospitalized last October and had been away from public life for some time, has shocked a country that just over a year ago lost another of its most revered and internationally known legends, actor Alain Delon, at the age of 88.
The death of Brigitte Bardot
RIP Brigitte Bardot, 91.
The greatest movie sex symbol of them all, and the woman who made St Tropez the coolest place in the world. pic.twitter.com/Az7PdOCBuU– Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) December 28, 2025
According to statements that Bruno Jacquelin, press officer of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, gave to the ‘BFMTV’ channel, the French muse died on Sunday around 6 am local time, with her husband Bernard d’Ormale (84 years old) by her side.
“He could hear her breathing normally. And then, at 05:55, she said to him very softly her little love word, which is ‘piou piou piou’ (‘peep, peep’). And it was all over,” Jacquelin continued.
Around his mansion, some admirers pasted pictures and left flowers next to the fences put up by the gendarmerie to cordon off La Madrague.
In addition, some neighbors also placed bouquets of flowers on the statue erected to the actress in Saint-Tropez.
Bardot’s face served, during the 1960s, as a model for the bust of the Marianne, which symbolizes the French Republic and its values of ‘Liberty, Equality and Fraternity’.
Today, many town halls maintain this “Bardot-like” effigy.
It was “extraordinarily French”
Rest in peace, Brigitte Bardot 🤍 From rescuing pigeons in Saint-Tropez to cherishing her beloved dogs, Brigitte was an angel for animals. A longtime vegetarian and fierce advocate for all species, she sold her jewelry and personal possessions to start a sanctuary and defend… pic.twitter.com/YwUS0or0BG
– PETA (@peta) December 28, 2025
For the far-right leader Marine Le Pen, also known by the acronym ‘BB’ was “extraordinarily French” and praised the fight for the protection of animals that she undertook after retiring from the cinema in 1973 and which she has continued to this day with the foundation that bears her name.
The interpreter of ‘The Truth’ (1960) and ‘Contempt’ (1963) showed, on several occasions and publicly, her ideological affinities with Le Pen.
It is precisely this closeness to ultra-nationalism that he has been censured on many occasions.
Between 1997 and 2008, Bardot was judicially condemned on five occasions with financial fines for certain comments and statements inciting hatred, especially against Muslims.
Also particularly controversial were her positions on the resurgence of the feminist movement in the wake of the “#MeToo” phenomenon from 2018.
‘BB’ then deemed certain of the accusations against men to be “hypocritical,” arguing that many female artists “warm up to producers to get a role.”
In his most recent and last media appearance, in an interview with the ‘BFMTV’ channel in May 2025, he made a plea to ban hunting in France, which he considered extremely cruel to animals.
With information from EFE
