French Actress and Animal Rights Activist, Brigitte Bardot, Passed Away At 91

Known for her beauty, sensuality, and full blonde hair, Brigitte Bardot, was a symbol of French cinema from the 1950s and 1960s. As a young girl, she was an aspiring ballerina, who studied at the Conservatoire de Paris. However, fate knocked on her door early on, and she appeared on the cover of "Elle" magazine on March 08th, 1950, when she was but 15 years of age. This subsequently led to her receiving an acting offer for "Les Lauriers sont coupes".

While her upper-class parents were opposed to her pursuing an acting career, her grandfather was supportive. Leading to Brigitte Bardot starring in films such as "The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful" and "And God Created Woman". She also starred in "Dear Brigitte" in the USA with Jimmy Stewart.

During the height of her acting career, Brigitte Bardot, was a French legend. As she married four times and by her count had 17 romantic relationships. When she became pregnant with her only son, she tried to abort him. Stating that she wasn't ready to be a mother. All in all it seemed like Brigitte Bardot was going to live out the rest of her life as a headline making starlet. However, that all changed in 1973.

In 1973, when she was thirty-nine years of age, Brigitte Bardot decided to quit acting. She famously stated that "I have my beauty and youth to men, and now I'll give my wisdom and experience to animals." This led to her founding the Brigitte Bardot Foundation which championed the rights of animals and worked against the fur trade, the use of animals in laboratory experiments, foie gras and trafficking puppies among other issues pertaining to animals. Oddly enough, this defending the rights of animals, would often pit her against the French courts. For when she criticized the sheep slaughter rituals of Muslims in France during festivals like Eid al – Adha, she was condemned for "inciting racial hatred" in France. She even wrote to Nicolas Sarkozy that the ritual would "stain the soil of France". Her activism against such barbarity towards animals led to the French courts convicting her five times and even imposing fines against her for her public statements against the practice of sheep slaughter and immigration.

Thus, in the latter half of her life, Brigitte Bardot became known as the only celebrity to openly defend the far right in France. She became known for her hostility towards immigration, although she felt she was merely defending animals, and her passion for the French culture she believed was being lost. A view that she held in common with the French heartthrob, Alain Delon. Yet, continuing the rejection of social conventions that hallmarked her early years, Brigitte Bardot pushed the boundaries of what France considered could be said regarding such matters. She married the adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the far-right political party in France and remained married to him until she passed away. At one point, she even called Marine Le Pen a modern "Joan of Arc" stating that "I wish for her to save France. She's the Joan of Arc of the 21st century".

In fact, as a former symbol of France when she was the model for "Marianne" - the emblem of the French Republic, passion for France, was something that Brigitte Bardot carried throughout the extent of her life. And in her final book, "Mon BBcedaire", she said right-wing politicians were "the only urgent remedy to France's agony." Brigitte Bardot, passed away at the age of 91 on Sunday, December 18th, 2025 in her home in Saint-Tropez.

Luisa Reyes is a Tuscaloosa attorney, piano instructor, and vocalist.