Brigitte Bardot — the woman who redefined glamour, freedom, and controversy — has died at 91.
For many, she wasn’t just a movie star. She was BB. An era. A rebellion wrapped in cinema reels and tousled hair.
So who was Bardot, really? A global sex symbol of the 1950s and 60s who stunned audiences in And God Created Woman.
Then shocked them again by walking away from fame at the height of her power.
“I was sick of being beautiful every day,” she once said — and she meant it. In 1973, she quit acting for good.
What followed was a dramatic second act. Bardot retreated to Saint-Tropez and devoted her life to animals, founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986.
A Complicated Legacy
Today, it employs hundreds and is backed by tens of thousands of donors.
“My fame allows me to protect animals — the only cause that truly matters,” she told AFP.
French President Emmanuel Macron summed it up neatly, calling her “a legend of the century” who embodied freedom.
But Bardot was never simple. Her later years were marked by sharp political views and repeated hate-speech convictions.
She also voiced fierce criticism of modern France, earning both loyal admirers and vocal critics.
Loved or loathed, she refused to be ignored. And maybe that’s the most Bardot thing of all.
A life lived loudly — then quietly — on her own terms.
