111 Facts About Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot has acted in 47 films, performed in several musicals, and recorded more than 60 songs.

Brigitte Bardot was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1985.

Brigitte Bardot started her acting career in 1952 and achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman, catching the attention of many French intellectuals and earning her the nickname "sex kitten".

Brigitte Bardot was the subject of philosopher Simone de Beauvoir's 1959 essay The Lolita Syndrome, which described her as a "locomotive of women's history" and built upon existentialist themes to declare her the most liberated woman of France.

Brigitte Bardot won a 1961 David di Donatello Best Foreign Actress Award for her work in The Truth.

Brigitte Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mepris.

Brigitte Bardot is known for her strong personality, outspokenness, and speeches on animal defense; she has been fined twice for public insults.

Brigitte Bardot has been a controversial political figure, as of November 2021 having been fined six times for inciting racial hatred when she criticised immigration and Islam in France and called residents of Reunion "savages".

Brigitte Bardot is married to Bernard d'Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right French politician.

Brigitte Bardot is a member of the Global 500 Roll of Honour of the United Nations Environment Programme and has received several awards and accolades from UNESCO and PETA.

Brigitte Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris to Louis Brigitte Bardot and Anne-Marie Mucel.

Brigitte Bardot's father, who originated from Ligny-en-Barrois, was an engineer and the proprietor of several industrial factories in Paris.

Brigitte Bardot's mother was the daughter of an insurance company director.

Brigitte Bardot grew up in a conservative Catholic family, as had her father.

Brigitte Bardot suffered from amblyopia as a child, which resulted in decreased vision of her left eye.

Brigitte Bardot's childhood was prosperous; she lived in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement.

Brigitte Bardot's father demanded that she follow strict behavioural standards, including good table manners, and wear appropriate clothes.

Brigitte Bardot's mother was highly selective in choosing companions for her, so Bardot had very few childhood friends.

Brigitte Bardot cited a personal traumatic incident when she and her sister broke her parents' favourite vase while they were playing in the house; her father whipped the sisters 20 times and subsequently treated them like "strangers", demanding that they address their parents by the formal pronoun "vous", used in French when speaking to unfamiliar or higher-status persons outside the immediate family.

The incident led to Brigitte Bardot decisively resenting her parents and to her future rebellious lifestyle.

Brigitte Bardot became engrossed in dancing to records, which her mother saw as a potential for a ballet career.

Brigitte Bardot was admitted at the age of seven to the private school Cours Hattemer.

Brigitte Bardot went to school three days a week, which gave her ample time to take dance lessons at a local studio under her mother's arrangements.

In 1949, Brigitte Bardot was accepted at the Conservatoire de Paris.

Brigitte Bardot attended ballet classes held by Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev for three years.

Brigitte Bardot studied at the Institut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home.

On 8 March 1950,15-year-old Brigitte Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle, which brought her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupes from director Marc Allegret.

Brigitte Bardot reacted by putting her head into an oven with open fire; her parents stopped her and ultimately accepted the relationship, on condition that she marry Vadim at the age of 18.

Brigitte Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle again in 1952, which landed her an offer for a small part in the comedy film Crazy for Love the same year, directed by Jean Boyer and starring Bourvil.

Brigitte Bardot was paid 200,000 francs for the small role portraying a cousin of the main character.

Brigitte Bardot had her second film role in Manina, the Girl in the Bikini, directed by Willy Rozier.

Brigitte Bardot had roles in the 1953 films, The Long Teeth and His Father's Portrait.

Brigitte Bardot had a small role in a Hollywood-financed film being shot in Paris in 1953, Act of Love, starring Kirk Douglas.

Brigitte Bardot received media attention when she attended the Cannes Film Festival in April 1953.

Brigitte Bardot had a leading role in 1954 in an Italian melodrama, Concert of Intrigue, and in a French adventure film, Caroline and the Rebels.

Brigitte Bardot had a good part as a flirtatious student in 1955's School for Love, opposite Jean Marais, for director Marc Allegret.

Brigitte Bardot played her first sizeable English-language role in 1955 in Doctor at Sea as the love interest for Dirk Bogarde.

Brigitte Bardot had a small role in The Grand Maneuver for director Rene Clair, supporting Gerard Philipe and Michelle Morgan.

Brigitte Bardot's part was bigger in The Light Across the Street for director Georges Lacombe.

Brigitte Bardot had another in the Hollywood film Helen of Troy, playing Helen's handmaiden.

Brigitte Bardot dyed her hair rather than wear a wig; she was so pleased with the results that she decided to retain the color.

Brigitte Bardot then appeared in four movies that made her a star.

The movie was Vadim's debut as director, with Brigitte Bardot starring opposite Jean-Louis Trintignant and Curt Jurgens.

In gaining her present eminence, Brigitte Bardot has had certain advantages beyond those she was born with.

Brigitte Bardot followed And God Created Woman up with La Parisienne, a comedy co-starring Charles Boyer for director Boisrond.

Brigitte Bardot was reunited with Vadim in another melodrama The Night Heaven Fell, and played a criminal who seduced Jean Gabin in In Case of Adversity.

In 1958, Brigitte Bardot became the highest-paid actress in the country of France.

Brigitte Bardot was awarded a David di Donatello Award for Best Foreign Actress for her role in the film.

Brigitte Bardot starred alongside Marcello Mastroianni in a film inspired by her life in A Very Private Affair, directed by Louis Malle.

Brigitte Bardot starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mepris, produced by Joseph E Levine and starring Jack Palance.

Brigitte Bardot's appearance was relatively brief in the film, and the movie was not a big success.

Brigitte Bardot had a small role in the all-star Spirits of the Dead, acting opposite Alain Delon, then tried a Hollywood film again: Shalako, a Western starring Sean Connery, which was another box-office disappointment.

Brigitte Bardot pleaded with Gainsbourg not to release this duet and he complied with her wish; the following year, he rerecorded a version with British-born model and actress Jane Birkin that became a massive hit all over Europe.

The version with Brigitte Bardot was issued in 1986 and became a download hit in 2006 when Universal Music made its back catalogue available to purchase online, with this version of the song ranking as the third most popular download.

From 1969 to 1972, Brigitte Bardot was the official face of Marianne, who had previously up until then been anonymous, to represent the liberty of France.

Brigitte Bardot's next film, Les Femmes, was a flop, although the screwball comedy The Bear and the Doll performed better.

The Legend of Frenchie King was more popular, helped by Brigitte Bardot co-starring with Claudia Cardinale.

Brigitte Bardot made one more movie working with Vadim, Don Juan, or If Don Juan Were a Woman, playing the title role.

For years, since she has been growing older, and the Brigitte Bardot myth has become just a souvenir.

Brigitte Bardot kept her word and made only one more film, The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot.

In 1973, Brigitte Bardot announced she was retiring from acting as "a way to get out elegantly".

Brigitte Bardot met Paul Watson in 1977, the same year he founded the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, during an operation to condemn the massacre of seal pups and seal hunting on the Canadian ice floe.

In support of animal protection, Brigitte Bardot went to the ice floe after being invited by Watson.

Brigitte Bardot posed lying down next to the seal pups; the photos were seen worldwide.

Brigitte Bardot became a vegetarian and raised three million francs to fund the foundation by auctioning off jewellery and personal belongings.

Brigitte Bardot has been a strong animal rights activist and a major opponent of the consumption of horse meat.

Brigitte Bardot urged French television viewers to boycott horse meat and was the target of death threats in January 1994.

Brigitte Bardot wrote a 1999 letter to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, published in French magazine VSD, in which she accused the Chinese of "torturing bears and killing the world's last tigers and rhinos to make aphrodisiacs".

Brigitte Bardot donated more than US$140,000 over two years in 2001 for a mass sterilization and adoption program for Bucharest's stray dogs, estimated to number 300,000.

Brigitte Bardot committed to the cause of animal welfare in Bodhgaya over several years.

On 23 July 2015, Brigitte Bardot condemned Australian politician Greg Hunt's plan to eradicate 2 million cats to save endangered species such as the Warru and night parrot.

At the age of 90, Brigitte Bardot appealed to free Watson, who had been detained in Greenland since 21 July 2024, when Japan requested his extradition.

Brigitte Bardot asked Macron to show "a little bit of courage".

Brigitte Bardot wrote a letter to Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, asking her to "not choose the camp of the oceans gravediggers".

Brigitte Bardot has been married four times, with her current marriage lasting far longer than the previous three combined.

On 20 December 1952, aged 18, Brigitte Bardot married director Roger Vadim.

Brigitte Bardot recovered within weeks, began a relationship with actor Jacques Charrier, and became pregnant well before they married on 18 June 1959.

Brigitte Bardot's only child, son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, was born on 11 January 1960.

Brigitte Bardot had an affair with Glenn Ford in the early 1960s.

Brigitte Bardot was enamoured of Frey, but he quickly left her.

In 1974, Brigitte Bardot appeared in a nude photo shoot in Playboy magazine, which celebrated her 40th birthday.

From 1980 to 1985, Brigitte Bardot had a live-in relationship with French TV producer Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.

On 27 September 1983, the eve of her 49th birthday, Brigitte Bardot took an overdose of sleeping pills or tranquilizers with red wine, then wandered out to the beach, where she was later pulled from the surf.

Brigitte Bardot had to be rushed to the hospital, where her life was saved after a stomach pump was used to evacuate the pills from her body.

Brigitte Bardot refused to undergo chemotherapy treatment and decided only to do radiation therapy.

Brigitte Bardot expressed support for President Charles de Gaulle in the 1960s.

Brigitte Bardot had been fined in 1997 for the original publication of this open letter in Le Figaro and again in 1998 for making similar remarks.

Brigitte Bardot was further offended by Palin's support for Arctic oil exploration and by her lack of consideration in protecting polar bears.

On 13 August 2010, Brigitte Bardot criticised American filmmaker Kyle Newman for his plan to produce a biographical film about her.

In 2014, Brigitte Bardot wrote an open letter demanding the ban in France of Jewish ritual slaughter shechita.

In 2015, Brigitte Bardot threatened to sue a Saint-Tropez boutique for selling items featuring her face.

On 19 March 2019, Brigitte Bardot issued an open letter to Reunion prefect Amaury de Saint-Quentin in which she accused inhabitants of the Indian Ocean island of animal cruelty and referred to them as "autochthones who have kept the genes of savages".

Brigitte Bardot's husband Bernard d'Ormale is a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, former leader of the far-right party National Front, the main far-right party in France.

Brigitte Bardot expressed support for Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front, calling her "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century".

Brigitte Bardot endorsed Le Pen in the 2012 and 2017 French presidential elections.

Brigitte Bardot has been convicted of inciting racial hatred multiple times, having received six separate fines for the offense as of November 2021.

You know, the one thing that was so great in those days was that a woman named Brigitte Bardot came along with Et Dieu.

We had to cover everything, and when Brigitte Bardot's movie was released in an art house in Los Angeles, my God, people were lining up all the way down Wilshire Boulevard to see it.

Brigitte Bardot has been called a "style icon" and a "muse for Dior, Balmain, and Pierre Cardin".

In fashion, the Brigitte Bardot neckline is named after her.

Brigitte Bardot popularized this style, which is especially used for knitted sweaters or jumpers, although it is used for other tops and dresses.

Brigitte Bardot popularized the bikini in her early films such as Manina.

Brigitte Bardot's image was linked to the shoemaker Repetto, who created a pair of ballerinas for her in 1956.

Isabella Biedenharn of Elle wrote that Brigitte Bardot "has inspired thousands of women to tease their hair or try out winged eyeliner over the past few decades".

Brigitte Bardot was idolized by the young John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

Lennon and Brigitte Bardot met in person once, in 1968 at the May Fair Hotel, introduced by Beatles press agent Derek Taylor; a nervous Lennon took LSD before arriving, and neither star impressed the other.

Brigitte Bardot mentioned her by name in "I Shall Be Free", which appeared on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Brigitte Bardot was the subject of eight Andy Warhol paintings in 1974.

Brigitte Bardot inspired Nicole Kidman, who had "Bardot-esque" hair in the 2013 British brand Jimmy Choo campaign.

In 2015, Brigitte Bardot was ranked number six in "The Top Ten Most Beautiful Women of All Time", according to a survey carried out by Amway's beauty company in the UK involving 2,000 women.

The French drama television series Brigitte Bardot was broadcast on France 2 in 2023.