Brigitte Bardot, Actress, Activist, And Dancer, Has Passed Away At 91
Image Source: Variety
Screen icon Brigitte Bardot has passed away on 28th December at age 91; her cause of death has not been made public, it is understood that she had been suffering from an undisclosed ailment for some time. Born in France in 1934, Bardot trained as a ballerina in her youth at the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris. Elle Magazine spotted her, and by fifteen, she was appearing on their covers. Her first movie credit came just three years later in the small French comedy, Le Trou Normand (Crazy for Love). Roger Vadim’s (who would become her first husband) directorial debut, And God Created Woman, became the highest-grossing foreign film ever in the United States, and it catapulted her to fame. It was in this movie that she first used her signature cat eyeliner.
Brigitte Bardot would continue to be cast in films aimed at the international market, billed as the French Marilyn Monroe in movies like Contempt and The Naughty Girl. However, she was so celebrated back home that France made her the official face of Marriane, the personification of the French Republic.
Brigitte Bardot quit the movie industry at 40, stating that “The majority of great actresses met tragic ends. When I said goodbye to this job, to this life of opulence and glitter, images and adoration, the quest to be desired, I was saving my life.” But she was never out of the spotlight. A vegetarian, she worked tirelessly for animal rights, campaigning against elephant poaching, seal hunting, and a number of other unethical practices.
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In her later years, Bardot married Bernard d’Ormale, advisor to the far-right political figure Marine Le Pen. While politicking, Bardot was convicted five times for inciting racial hatred, openly praised Vladimir Putin, and even went as far as threatening to apply for Russian citizenship. She has also criticized the #MeToo movement, stating, “people with talent who grab a girl’s bottom are thrown into the bottom of the ditch […]We could at least let them carry on living.”
But she was most dedicated to her animal rights work, so it was fitting that her passing was announced by her charity, which had the following dedication: “The Brigitte Bardot Foundation wishes to pay tribute to the memory of an exceptional woman who gave up everything for a world more respectful of animals. Her legacy remains, living through the actions and battles that the foundation pursues with the same passion and the same loyalty to her ideals.”
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