French film icon Brigitte Bardot, a symbol of sexual liberation of the 1950s and sixties who turned her back on cinema to devote herself to protecting animals, has died aged 91, her foundation said Sunday.

Bardot was hospitalised in October and, in November, released a statement denying rumours that she had died. The foundation did not say when or where she died, however.

“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 AFP.

Tributes were immediately paid to the star who became known as “BB” in her home country.

Born on September 28, 1934, in Paris, Bardot was raised in a well-off, traditional Catholic household. Married four times, she had one child, Nicolas, with her second husband, actor Jacques Charrier.

Bardot became a global star after appearing in “And God Created Woman” in 1956, and went on to appear in about 50 more movies before giving up acting in 1973.

She turned her back on celebrity to look after abandoned animals, saying she was “sick of being beautiful every day”.

President Emmanuel Macron called Bardot a “legend” of the 20th century.

“With her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials (BB), her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, and her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” he wrote on X, referring to the female symbol of the French Republic.

“We mourn a legend of the century.”

Protecting animals

Bardot withdrew to her home in the Riviera resort of Saint-Tropez, where she devoted herself to fighting for animals.

Her calling apparently came when she encountered a goat on the set of her final film, “The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot”.
To save it from being killed, she bought the animal and kept it in her hotel room.

Bardot went on to found the Brigitte Bardot Foundation in 1986, which now has 70,000 donors and around 300 employees, according to its website.

“I’m very proud of the first chapter of my life,” she told AFP in a 2024 interview ahead of her 90th birthday.

“It gave me fame, and that fame allows me to protect animals — the only cause that truly matters to me.” She added that she lived in “silent solitude” in her home, “La Madrague”, surrounded by nature and content to be “fleeing humanity”.

Hate speech

Unlike other beloved French New Wave stars, Bardot was a divisive figure who alienated many fans with her political views.

She was convicted five times for hate speech, mostly about Muslims, but also the inhabitants of the French island of Reunion, whom she described as “savages.”

A supporter of far-right politician Marine Le Pen, Bardot declared herself “against the Islamisation of France” in a 2003 book, citing “our ancestors, our grandfathers, our fathers have for centuries given their lives to push out successive invaders.”

Jordan Bardella, the head of Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party, was among the first to pay homage.

“Today the French people have lost the Marianne they so loved, whose beauty astonished the world,” he wrote on X.

In her final book, Mon BBcedaire ( “My BB Alphabet “), published weeks before her death, she fired barbs at what she described as a “dull, sad, submissive” France and at her hometown of Saint-Tropez, now packed with the wealthy tourists she helped attract.

The book also contained derogatory remarks about gay and transgender people.

She is the latest of the New Wave luminaries to die and is survived by her only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, from her marriage to actor Jacques Charrier.

On the subject of death, she warned that she wanted to avoid the presence of “a crowd of idiots” at her funeral and wished for a simple wooden cross above her grave, in her garden — the same as for her animals.