--- title: Brigitte Bardot, Icon and Provocateur, Dead at 91 description: The actress and sex symbol, who retired from film before she turned 40, spent the second half of her life as an animal rights activist. canonical: https://time.com/7342706/brigitte-bardot-obituary-legacy/ author: Veronique Greenwood article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-12-28T17:18:12.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:51:05.876Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Brigitte Bardot, Icon and Provocateur, Dead at 91 og:description: Brigitte Bardot became a global sex symbol, then an animal-rights crusader, while courting far-right controversy in France. og:url: https://time.com/7342706/brigitte-bardot-obituary-legacy/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33dc0d9879f17c42/6998cc90e1ba00a54698e38a/GettyImages-607394592.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: On the set of Le Mépris og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brigitte Bardot, Icon and Provocateur, Dead at 91 twitter:description: Brigitte Bardot became a global sex symbol, then an animal-rights crusader, while courting far-right controversy in France. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt33dc0d9879f17c42/6998cc90e1ba00a54698e38a/GettyImages-607394592.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Brigitte Bardot, Icon and Provocateur, Dead at 91 > Sponsored content. 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Terms and conditions apply. * Savings buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Savings Account. * No ATM fees from Ally Bank at Allpoint and Moneypass ATMs plus we reimburse for fees charged by other ATM owners nationwide up to $10 per statement cycle. * Early direct deposit offers eligible direct deposits up to two days sooner. * Spending buckets are a feature of Ally Bank's Spending Account. by [Veronique Greenwood](https://time.com/author/veronique-greenwood/) ## Veronique Greenwood Dec 28, 2025 5:18 PM UTC  Brigitte Bardot on the set of "Le Mepris" ("Contempt"). Brigitte Bardot on the set of "Le Mepris" ("Contempt").Sunset Boulevard-Getty Images by [Veronique Greenwood](https://time.com/author/veronique-greenwood/) ## Veronique Greenwood Dec 28, 2025 5:18 PM UTC Some months before her death, Brigitte Bardot gave an [interview](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldbGfLgCv8&t=105s) with BFMTV. Eleven years had passed since she’d last appeared on screen, the journalist Steven Bellery remarked. Why step in front of a camera now? Bardot, small but stately on a sofa in her home in Saint-Tropez, replied: “I’m going to war.” Bardot, who leapt to global stardom as a nubile rebel in the 1956 film _And God Created Woman,_ wanted the French government to outlaw hunting wild animals with hounds, which she called a “horror.” It was a move characteristic of the latter half of the actress’s life, during which the plight of animals–from the stray dogs of Bucharest to Arctic seal pups–was often foremost in her mind. Her foundation, Fondation Brigitte Bardot, has run shelters, sterilization and adoption campaigns, and conservation efforts around the world since 1986\. But Bardot, whose death at 91 was [announced](https://www.fondationbrigittebardot.fr/deces-de-notre-fondatrice-et-presidente-madame-brigitte-bardot/) by her foundation, was also a vocal proponent of far-right politics in France. She decried Muslim immigration in public letters and [in books](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/may/16/news.gwladysfouche), and she was repeatedly found guilty of provoking racial hatred. Decades after her films first provoked scandal and fascination, she remained a study in contrasts.  Brigitte Bardot visits her dog refuge "The Nice Dogs" of Carnoules on October 7, 2001 in Paris, France. Charly Hel-Getty Images ## **Career as a bombshell** Born in 1934, Brigitte Bardot was the eldest daughter of a wealthy Parisian family. She studied ballet and became a model as a young teenager, eventually making the acquaintance of filmmaker Roger Vadim, who would become her first husband. At the age of 18, she starred in his _And God Created Woman,_ which became a global blockbuster and scandal magnet, and created her reputation as a sex symbol. She appeared in numerous films over the next two decades, including Jean-Luc Godard’s New Wave film _Contempt_. She was famous for her languid stare and full-lipped smile, and for embodying a new kind of female sexual emancipation. ## **Second act as an activist** Bardot’s last film was _The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot_ (1973). She publicly announced she was retiring from acting. She turned her attention to activism on behalf of animals, and, in 1977, was [photographed](https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/brigitte-bardot-holding-a-baby-seal-during-greenpeaces-news-photo/949496806) lying on the ice in Canada with a harp seal pup as part of a Greenpeace campaign against the seal hunt. Such stunts were far from the only work she undertook. Her foundation helped fund a plan with the mayor of Bucharest in Romania to [sterilize hundreds of thousands of stray dogs in the city](http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1196712.stm#:~:text=French%20film%20star%20Brigitte%20Bardot%20donates%20$140000,to%20the%20cull%20of%20Romania's%20stray%20dogs.), as an alternative to extermination. ## **Far-right symbol** In 1992, Bardot married Bernard d’Ormale, a businessman and adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right National Front. She began to [make waves](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2003/may/16/news.gwladysfouche) with public letters and statements against various groups in society, with few subjects evading her contempt; targets ranged from homosexuals to #MeToo activists to kosher butchers. Sued by civil rights groups, she was eventually convicted five times for inciting racial hatred. After Bardot’s death was announced, politician Marine Le Pen, the daughter of Jean-Marie Le Pen, [wrote on X](https://x.com/MLP%5Fofficiel): “France has lost an exceptional woman, remarkable for her talent, courage, frankness, and beauty.” Also on X, the president of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, [wrote](https://x.com/EmmanuelMacron) that Bardot “embodied a life of freedom…She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.” In her interview with BFMTV, which [can be seen on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hldbGfLgCv8&t=105s), Bardot lingers on the abolition of hunting with hounds. “Do you want the abolition to be your legacy?” the journalist asks. “What we remember about you?” “Oh! No,” she says, and smiles coyly. “Oh no, there are many things that should be remembered about me.” She chuckles and looks down, as if reflecting on her life. Then she begins to speak again of the suffering of animals. 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