Brigitte Bardot, the French actor and singer who rose to global fame in the 1950s and 1960s and later became a prominent animal rights activist, has died at the age of 91.
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation confirmed her death in a statement issued on Sunday, announcing “with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot,” describing her as a world-renowned actress and singer who gave up her celebrated film career to dedicate her life to animal welfare.
No details were provided regarding the time or place of her death.
Born in Paris in 1934, Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic household and initially trained as a ballet dancer, earning a place at the Conservatoire de Paris.
Alongside her dance studies, she began modeling and appeared on the cover of Elle magazine at just 15, a moment that opened the door to film roles. During an early audition, she met filmmaker Roger Vadim, whom she married in 1952 after turning 18.
Bardot’s international breakthrough came with And God Created Woman (1956), directed by Vadim, in which she played an uninhibited young woman in Saint-Tropez.
The film was a major success in France and abroad, cementing her image as the defining sex symbol of her era.
Over the next two decades, she starred in a series of acclaimed films, including Doctor at Sea, The Truth, Very Private Affair, Contempt, Viva Maria! and Shalako, working with directors such as Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle and Henri-Georges Clouzot.
Beyond cinema, Bardot influenced fashion, popular culture and intellectual debate.
She inspired artists, musicians and writers, was the subject of Simone de Beauvoir’s 1959 essay Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome, and in 1969 became the first real-life model for Marianne, the symbol of the French Republic.
She also pursued a parallel music career, including recording the original version of Serge Gainsbourg’s Je T’Aime… Moi Non Plus.
In 1973, aged 39, Bardot retired from acting, citing discomfort with fame. She devoted her life to animal rights activism, founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986 and campaigning globally against practices she viewed as cruel to animals.
In later years, Bardot’s political views became increasingly controversial. Her outspoken positions on immigration, religion and minorities, along with her support for France’s far-right Front National, led to multiple convictions for inciting racial hatred.
Bardot was married four times and had one son, Nicholas. Her life remains one of the most complex and influential in modern French cultural history, spanning cinema, music, activism and political controversy.