Brigitte Bardot, the French actress, singer and style icon turned animal rights activist, has died aged 91.
“The Brigitte Bardot foundation announces with immense sadness the death of its founder and president, Madame Brigitte Bardot, a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation,” it said in a statement sent to media outlet Agence France-Presse today, without specifying the time or place of her death.
She starred in a number of French cinema hits in the 1950s and 1960s — rising to international fame with the 1956 film 'And God Created Woman' — becoming known as a symbol of sexual liberation. Her signature look of tousled blonde hair with bangs and graphic eyeliner inspired fashion trends worldwide, with many replicating her aesthetic and continuing to do so today.
In the early 1970s, however, she announced her retirement from acting and became increasingly political. “I gave my youth and beauty to men, I give my wisdom and experience to animals,” Bardot is famously quoted as saying. In 1986, she launched her own animal rights charity — the Brigitte Bardot Foundation — which works to protect wild and domestic animals.
Her outspoken support of animal rights progressed into inflammatory comments about ethnic minorities and open support for France’s far-right Front National, resulting in a string of convictions for racial hatred.
Bardot was married four times throughout her life: to director Roger Vadim between 1952 and 1957, actor and producer Jacques Charrier between 1959 and 1962 (with whom she had a son, Nicholas, in 1960), photographer Gunter Sachs (1966-1969), and former Le Pen adviser Bernard d’Ormale, who she married in 1992.
Rebecca Jane Hill is the Senior Fashion Editor at Cosmopolitan UK. She has previously contributed to publications including Vogue, Elle, Marie Claire, Harper’s Bazaar, Refinery29, The Face, Glamour and Stylist. She started her own magazine, Sister, in 2012 whilst at university. Focused around feminism, fashion and culture, it went on to produce 12 globally stocked print issues, as well as countless events and partnerships. She closed the magazine in 2023.
Rebecca has been an associate lecturer at London College of Fashion since 2018, where she teaches on the Fashion Journalism course. She is a passionate second-hand shopper and is constantly on the lookout for new design talent.
