Sex Symbol, Animal Rights Activist And Right-wing Supporter: Who Was Brigitte Bardot?

• 28.12.2025, 20:42

The legendary French actress passed away today at the age of 91.

Brigitte Bardot, who passed away on December 28 at the age of 91, was born in Paris in 1934 to a wealthy and conservative family. At the age of 13, she entered the Paris Higher National Conservatory of Music and Dance, where she studied in the class of Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev, writes DW.

The debut in the movie was in 1952: Bardot played the lead role in the comedy Jean Boyer's "Normandy Hole". She gained fame by playing a liberated girl in the movie "And God Created Woman", which was filmed by her husband Roger Vadim. In total, Bardot starred in almost 50 films.

Bardot attracted the attention of the public not only roles, but also her numerous romances and marriages. For example, in 1958, she appeared in public with her lover, singer Sasha Distel.

The writer Simone de Beauvoir in her famous essay "Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome" called the actress the freest woman in France.

After 1967, the actress did not star in any truly successful films. At age 40, Bardot finally retired from film and devoted herself to helping animals, becoming one of the most influential animal advocates in the world.

Since the 1990s, she has supported France's national-conservative National Front party, criticized migration policies and the "Islamization of French society," and criticized the LGBT community.

In 2018, Bardot wrote an open letter to Lukashenko asking him to help Belarus' homeless animals.