Was 91 years old
French film diva Brigitte Bardot is dead
Mourning for Brigitte Bardot: the French film diva has died at the age of 91. She achieved worldwide fame in the 1950s with sensual roles such as in "And the woman is always tempting".
The icon of French cinema died at the age of 91, her foundation announced on Sunday, according to AFP. "It is with unspeakable sadness that the Brigitte Bardot Foundation announces the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot," the statement read.
Bardot was a "world-renowned actress and singer" who "decided to give up her illustrious career to devote her life and energy to the defense of animals and her foundation". The foundation did not comment on the timing or circumstances of Bardot's death.
However, Bardot had to be treated in hospital several times in recent months, most recently in November. She had previously been in hospital in October. According to her relatives, she had undergone a minor surgical procedure at the time, which was successful.
"Legend of the century"
Meanwhile, French President Emmanuel Macron paid tribute to Bardot as "a legend of the century". Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom, Macron wrote on Platform X. "French existence, universal splendor. She touched us," the article reads.
Became a world star in 1956
95 minutes were enough to make her a world star in 1956. In the film "Und immer lockt das Weib", directed by Roger Vadim, she plays Juliette, a sensual young woman who thirsts for freedom and is desired by three men. At the time, Brigitte Bardot was only in her early 20s, still a brunette, but had already appeared in ten films.
She dyed her hair blonde, danced the mambo with lewd hip movements and lasciviously lolled on the sands of Saint-Tropez. Her role as a seductive woman made her a worldwide sensation overnight - and a sex symbol. Her performances triggered hysteria and mass gatherings.
Bardot created a new image of women
In a France where dancing barefoot was already a minor scandal, she broke the boundaries of what had previously been possible for women on screen: for the first time in cinema, a woman expressed her physical desires on an equal footing with a man. The movie was a slap in the face for an entire nation. Scenes were censored and the good bourgeoisie insulted her as a whore. But for many French women, BB, as she was called until her death, became a role model. She herself simply found the movie funny. She improvised the mambo completely, she told the newspaper "La Croix" years later.
With films such as "The Truth", "Contempt" and "Viva Maria!", she not only wrote film history. BB, who came from a conservative family, created a new image of women with her self-determined femininity and eroticism: female beauty was suddenly allowed to be sexy and self-confident.
She unashamedly revealed her dream body to the greedy objects of photographers. She changed lovers and husbands without restraint. While Vadim was filming "Und immer lockt das Weib" with her, she began a relationship with film partner Jean-Louis Trintignant. She was also in a relationship with Serge Gainsbourg, the "enfant terrible" of French chanson, for some time. However, she never wanted to be taken in as a feminist. She had nothing to do with the whole movement, as she emphasized in the interview with "La Croix".
Birth as a nightmare
In 1960, at the age of 25, she gave birth to her only son Nicolas. It was a nightmare for the actress, which she described without complexes in her memoirs "Initiales B.B", published in 1996. When the baby was placed on her stomach and she was told that it was a boy, she pushed him away. She would have preferred to give birth to a small dog, she wrote.
Bardot wanted to have an abortion - as she had with her two previous pregnancies. But this time no doctor agreed and the child's father, actor Jacques Charrier, did not want an abortion, which was still being prosecuted at the time. Three years after his birth, Nicolas was officially entrusted to his father. The actress later explained that she was unable to raise her son because she was looking for support herself. She needed a shoulder, a root, as she is quoted in the documentary "Brigitte Bardot, confidentiel" (Brigitte Bardot, Confidential).
Withdrew from the public eye in the 70s
In 1973, at the height of her fame, after more than 40 films and numerous songs, Bardot radically withdrew from the public eye and took refuge in her villa La Madrague in Saint-Tropez. She was not yet 40 and explained her decision by saying that the life she was leading was pointless and superficial. "It was a martyrdom", she wrote in her autobiography "Tears of Struggle" (2018).
She dedicated herself to the fight against seal hunting, animal testing and cruel slaughter methods with the same uncompromising attitude that characterized her career. For half a century, she made her fight against animal cruelty her life's purpose. In 1986, she founded the animal welfare organization Fondation Brigitte Bardot, which was active until the end. She even sold a large part of her property to do so.
Political statements caused a stir
In addition to her commitment to animal welfare, Bardot repeatedly caused a stir with her political statements. Her sympathies for the extreme right and her sometimes racist statements earned her several convictions. She called for the election of Marine Le Pen and was critical of immigrants and Islamic slaughter.
Her harsh and often radical views met with widespread criticism, but Bardot always remained true to herself. She repeatedly emphasized that she said what she thought - regardless of whether others liked it or not. Bardot never conformed to social expectations and always lived her own definition of freedom - whether as an actress, rebellious sex symbol or militant animal rights activist.
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