Brigitte Bardot

Born and raised in Paris, Bardot was an aspiring ballerina in her early life. She started her acting career in 1952 and achieved international recognition in 1957 for her role in And God Created Woman (1956), catching the attention of many French intellectuals and earning her the nickname "sex kitten".^[5] She 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 first and most liberated woman of post-war France. She won a 1961 David di Donatello Best Foreign Actress Award for her work in The Truth (1960). Bardot later starred in Jean-Luc Godard's film Le Mépris (1963). For her role in Louis Malle's film Viva Maria! (1965), she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Foreign Actress. French President Charles de Gaulle called Bardot "the French export as important as Renault cars".^[6]


After retiring from acting in 1974, she became an animal rights activist and created the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. She is known for her strong personality, outspokenness, and speeches on animal defence; she has been fined twice for public insults. She has also been a controversial political figure, as of November 2021 having been fined six times^[7] for inciting racial hatred when she criticised immigration and Islam in France and called residents of Réunion "savages".^[8] She is married to Bernard d'Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, a far-right French politician. 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. In 2011, Los Angeles Times Magazine ranked her second on the "50 Most Beautiful Women In Film".

Early life[edit]

Bardot was born on 28 September 1934 in the 15th arrondissement of Paris, to Louis Bardot (1896–1975) and Anne-Marie Mucel (1912–1978).^[9] Bardot's father, originated from Ligny-en-Barrois, was an engineer and the proprietor of several industrial factories in Paris.^[10][11] Her mother was the daughter of an insurance company director.^[12] She grew up in a conservative Catholic family, as had her father.^[13][14] She suffered from amblyopia as a child, which resulted in decreased vision of her left eye.^[15] She has one younger sister, Mijanou Bardot.^[16]


Bardot's childhood was prosperous; she lived in her family's seven-bedroom apartment in the luxurious 16th arrondissement.^[14][17] However, she recalled feeling resentful in her early years.^[18] Her father demanded that she follow strict behavioural standards, including good table manners, and wear appropriate clothes.^[19] Her mother was extremely selective in choosing companions for her, so that Bardot had very few childhood friends.^[20] 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 henceforth 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.^[21] The incident led to Bardot decisively resenting her parents, and to her future rebellious lifestyle.^[22]


During World War II, when Paris was occupied by Nazi Germany, Bardot spent more time at home due to increasingly strict civilian surveillance.^[17] She became engrossed in dancing to records, which her mother saw as a potential for a ballet career.^[17] Bardot was admitted at the age of seven to the private school Cours Hattemer.^[23] She 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.^[20] In 1949, Bardot was accepted at the Conservatoire de Paris. For three years she attended ballet classes held by Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev.^[24] She also studied at the Institut de la Tour, a private Catholic high school near her home.^[25]


Hélène Gordon-Lazareff, the director of the magazines Elle and Le Jardin des Modes, hired Bardot in 1949 as a "junior" fashion model.^[26] On 8 March 1950, 15-year-old Bardot appeared on the cover of Elle, which brought her an acting offer for the film Les Lauriers sont coupés from director Marc Allégret.^[27] Her parents opposed her becoming an actress, but her grandfather was supportive, saying that "If this little girl is to become a whore, cinema will not be the cause."^[A] At the audition, Bardot met Roger Vadim, who later notified her that she did not get the role.^[29] They subsequently fell in love.^[30] Her parents fiercely opposed their relationship; her father announced to her one evening that she would continue her education in England and that he had bought her a train ticket for the following day.^[31] 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.^[32]