Brigitte Bardot’s Legacy of Racist Rhetoric

THE NEW YORK TIMES: The actress, who died this week at 91, was an icon of 1960s cinema. She was also a hero to the French far right.

For a certain France, Brigitte Bardot incarnated the lost idyll of the country’s supposed golden years after World War II when its president supped as an equal at the table of world leaders, French-made Citroëns rolled down its new superhighways, and white people of French ancestry filled its cities.

For that France, Ms. Bardot — blond and slim, a child of the most privileged neighborhood in Paris — seemed the perfect symbol of this booming era of liberation from postwar gloom. Indeed, at the time, France was happy to export Ms. Bardot — a superstar of 1960s cinema who died on Sunday at 91 — as the quintessence of the country’s seductive charm. She was “incredibly French,” Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Rally party, with whose family Ms. Bardot had ties dating back over 60 years, said after her death.

But the idyll had shaky underpinnings from the start, both in its conception of France and of Ms. Bardot herself. When reality caught up with the pure white dream — the reality of a France that even in the 1960s depended for its prosperity in substantial part on immigrants from its former empire, many of them Muslim — the blond goddess soured.

Her post-cinema career, after her early retirement in 1973, was punctuated by a series of hair-raising racist and Islamophobic declarations targeting Muslims and immigrants, along with gay people, feminists and anybody else who didn’t fit into her vision of the “France of before” when “everything was less screwed up,” as she put it in one of her last interviews, with the far-right magazine Valeurs Actuelles (“Today’s Values”) in September 2024.

Six times convicted of uttering racist statements under France’s strict hate-speech laws, Ms. Bardot was a precious ally for the anti-immigrant party the National Front, which was founded by Ms. Le Pen’s father, Jean-Marie, an old friend of Ms. Bardot. She was a popular icon who expressed, crudely and in charged images, the anti-immigrant ideology at the party’s core.

She was the only major French star who took up squarely for both the National Front and its rebranded offspring, the National Rally party, French media pointed out this weekend. » | Adam Nossiter | Adam Nossiter, a former Paris bureau chief for The Times, has reported on France for decades. | Wednesday, 31 December 2025

From Sex Appeal to the Far Right, Brigitte Bardot Symbolized a Changing France

THE NEW YORK TIMES: In the decades after becoming a megastar, the French actress became as known for her politics as she once had been for her acting career.

The actress, singer and activist Brigitte Bardot, who has died at 91, personified France in a literal way: In 1969, she became the first celebrity to be used as the model for Marianne, the symbol of the Republic that has adorned the country’s City Halls as well as official documents, stamps and coins since the French Revolution. Just over a year earlier, she had kicked off her TV special “Le Show Bardot,” wearing little besides thigh-high boots and a French flag, as the national anthem played and then quickly morphed into a peppy new pop tune.

B.B., as she was known, was a new France: bold, free and unconventional.

Yet Bardot wasn’t a consensual figure. You might even say she was among the first problematic stars of the modern era: Admired and reviled in turns, or even simultaneously, she was a star accused of being a bad actress, a cranky, unfiltered misanthrope doubling as an emblem of modernity and liberation, and a tireless crusader for animal rights who cottoned to the far-right National Front and was convicted multiple times for “inciting racial hatred.”

Bardot did not need anyone to cancel her, though: In a way, she did it herself, quitting acting in 1973 before she turned 40. Unlike many star retirements before and since, this one stuck. Many may argue that this left her with enough time on her hands to get in trouble, but for better or for worse, she wanted agency, and she got it.

Long before she became Marianne, Bardot carried an even heavier burden: She was synonymous with womanhood itself. After all, the movie that made her a star in her early 20s was the melodrama “And God Created Woman,” in 1956. » | Elisabeth Vincentelli | Sunday, December 28, 2025

Brigitte Bardot, French Screen Legend, Dies Aged 91

THE GUARDIAN: Emmanuel Macron leads tributes to actor who became an international sex symbol and later embraced animal rights and far-right politics

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor and singer who became an international sex symbol before turning her back on the film industry and embracing the cause of animal rights activism, has died aged 91.

Among those paying tribute on Sunday was the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who wrote on social media that Bardot had “embodied a life of freedom” and “universal brilliance”. France was mourning “a legend of the century”, he said.

Jordan Bardella, the president of Marine Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party (RN), which Bardot supported, wrote: “Brigitte Bardot was a woman of heart, conviction and character. An ardent patriot, devoted to animals that she protected throughout her life, she embodied a whole French era, but also above all a certain idea of courage and freedom.”

Le Pen, whom Bardot once described as “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century”, wrote on social media that Bardot was “exceptional for her talent, courage, frankness and beauty”. “She was incredibly French,” she said. “Free, indomitable, whole. She will be hugely missed.”

Bardot’s death was announced on Sunday by her foundation in a statement sent to Agence France-Presse, which did not say when or where she had died.

“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. » | Andrew Pulver, and Angelique Chrisafis in Paris | Sunday, December 28, 2025

Brigitte Bardot was a zeitgeist-force and France’s most sensational export: Bardot titillated the world for five decades, but the controversy and voyeurism surrounding her shouldn’t overshadow an intriguing film career »

Brigitte Bardot: A life in pictures »

Brigitte Bardot, l’icône du cinéma français, est morte à 91 ans

LE FIGARO : La plus belle femme du XXe siècle avait eu le courage d'affronter le temps et ses blessures. Elle avait quitté le cinéma il y a près de cinquante ans et depuis avait consacré toute son énergie à la défense des animaux.

Bardot ! La Bardot ! Brigitte Bardot ! Qui prétendra qu'il y eut femme plus belle qu'elle au XXe siècle ? Femme plus sensuelle, plus rayonnante, femme à la démarche de sylphide - la danse classique lui avait donné une aristocratique silhouette -, femme au corps idéal, tout en courbes et déliés voluptueux, femme au port de reine, femme magnétique réveillant d'instinct hommes comme femmes – car les femmes aimaient Brigitte Bardot et des générations l'imitèrent. Femme enfant avec son minois de chat – à la fin de sa vie, elle ressemblait à un très beau persan, visage large, nez court, regard pénétrant -, femme irrésistible avec sa moue boudeuse et son éclat de rire malicieux. Femme de rêve qui fit chavirer bien des hommes de Roger Vadim à Serge Gainsbourg en passant par Jean-Louis Trintignant, Sami Frey, Jacques Charrier, Günter Sachs, tant d'autres. Jusqu'au moment où elle trouva le calme d'une vie loin des flashs ou des caméras auprès de Bernard d'Ormale qu'elle épousa en 1992. Heureuse avec des moments de doute, jusqu'aux crises et au désespoir. Mais vaillante, battante, pugnace et hyper-active dans la défense de la cause animale. Elle est alors infatigable et d'un courage jamais en défaut. » | Par Armelle Héliot | dimanche 28 décembre 2025

Brigitte Bardot de nouveau hospitalisée à Toulon

LE FIGARO : Pour la deuxième fois cet automne l’actrice française, âgée de 91 ans, doit quitter Saint-Tropez pour des problèmes de santé.

La star du cinéma français, âgée de 91 ans, est actuellement hospitalisée à Toulon, d'après les informations d'ICI Provence de Var Matin. Il y a un peu plus d’un mois, en octobre dernier, elle avait déjà dû quitter son domicile pour se faire soigner dans cet établissement. Brigitte Bardot aurait subi « une intervention chirurgicale dans le cadre d’une maladie grave ». Elle a pu regagner sa maison deux semaines après l’opération. » | Par Lea Tirveilliot | mardi 25 novembre 2025

Brigitte Bardot, 91 ans, est sortie de l’hôpital où elle a subi une intervention chirurgicale

LE FIGARO : L’icône du cinéma est rentrée chez elle, où elle se repose après un séjour de plusieurs semaines dans un établissement de Toulon. Dans un communiqué, elle remercie « ceux qui se soucient de son état de santé ».

La voici de retour chez elle, à Saint-Tropez. Brigitte Bardot « a été brièvement hospitalisée auprès de l'Hôpital privé Saint-Jean à Toulon pour subir une légère intervention chirurgicale qui s'est déroulée de manière particulièrement satisfaisante », a indiqué son secrétariat, vendredi, dans un communiqué transmis à l’AFP. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | vendredi 17 octobre 2025

Brigitte Bardot hospitalisée "dans un état préoccupant" : ce que l’on sait sur son état de santé : À 91 ans, Brigitte Bardot ferait face à des problèmes de santé. La célèbre actrice serait hospitalisée depuis trois semaines, selon les informations de Nice-Matin. Voici ce que l’on sait de son état de santé. »

Brigitte Bardot ne veut pas être vaccinée contre le Covid

Brigitte Bardot assure être en bonne santé pour une octogénaire et dit ne pas craindre la mort. ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP
LE FIGARO : L'actrice Brigitte a révélé mercredi 5 janvier au magazine Gala ne pas vouloir être vaccinée contre le Covid-19, se disant «allergique à tous les produits chimiques».

Parce qu'elle se dit «allergique à tous les produits chimiques», Brigitte Bardot a révélé ne pas vouloir être vaccinée contre le Covid-19, [sic]

«Je suis allergique à tous les produits chimiques»

Interrogée par l'hebdomadaire Gala pour savoir si elle était vaccinée, l'actrice, qui vit retirée dans sa villa en bord de Méditerranée à Saint-Tropez, a répondu: «Ah non! Je suis allergique à tous les produits chimiques». «Même quand j'ai voyagé en Afrique, j'ai refusé de le faire contre la fièvre jaune. Mon médecin de l'époque m'avait rédigé un faux certificat. Je suis partie et revenue en pleine forme !», a-t-elle ajouté. Elle n'a pas précisé à quelle date. » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | mercredi 5 janvier 2022

Brigitte Bardot condamnée à 20.000 euros d'amende pour injures publiques envers les Réunionnais

Lors du procès, le 7 octobre, le parquet avait requis une amende de 25.000 euros à l'encontre de Brigitte Bardot. PATRICK DOYLE / AFP
LE FIGARO : L'ex-actrice avait notamment comparé La Réunion à «l'île du diable» avec «une population dégénérée encore imprégnée (...) des traditions barbares qui sont leurs souches».

Brigitte Bardot, qui avait qualifié en 2019 les Réunionnais à d'«autochtones ayant gardé leurs gènes sauvages», a été condamnée jeudi 4 novembre par le tribunal judiciaire de Saint-Denis à 20.000 euros pour injures raciales.

Poursuivi pour complicité d'injures publiques, Bruno Jacquelin, l'attaché de presse de l'ancienne actrice de 87 ans, a été condamné à 4000 euros d'amende. À la demande de son employeuse, il avait transmis le courrier litigieux à plusieurs médias, dont l'AFP.

Le 7 octobre, lors du procès, le parquet avait requis 25.000 euros d'amende à l'encontre de l'ancienne star qui défend la cause animale et 5000 euros contre son collaborateur Créatrice d'une fondation portant son nom et œuvrant à la protection des animaux, l'ex-actrice avait adressé en mars 2019 une lettre ouverte à Amaury de Saint-Quentin, alors préfet de La Réunion. Se disant «envahie par des lettres (...) dénonçant la barbarie que les Réunionnais exercent sur les animaux», Brigitte Bardot avait affirmé que «les autochtones ont gardé leurs gènes de sauvages». Elle avait aussi comparé La Réunion à «l'île du diable» avec «une population dégénérée encore imprégnée (...) des traditions barbares qui sont leurs souches». » | Par Le Figaro avec AFP | jeudi 4 novembre 2021

Brigitte Bardot - Dokumentation

Muslims Urged Not to Slaughter Animals in the Streets of France at Eid

EXPRESS: ACTRESS Brigitte Bardot has led calls for Muslims in France not to slaughter animals in public during this weekend's Eid celebrations.

The animal rights activist has urged the French government to intervene to prevent "barbarism" and work towards "appeasement" asking instead that followers of Islam make sacrifices by giving to the poor.

In France the government has been providing skips because many followers discard their carcasses to rot in the streets after they have killed them.

While it is illegal to slaughter an animal publicly it is allowed for Muslims to go to a slaughterhouse and carry out the act for religious reasons.

However, those breaking the law and killing animals outside of mandated areas became such a problem environmental health departments had to step in to provide bins because sheep carcasses were causing a public health problem. » | Siobhan McFadyen | Saturday, September 10, 2016

French Icon Brigitte Bardot On Trial Again For Blasphemy Against Islam

BREITBART: Former film star Brigitte Bardot, France’s iconic blonde bombshell and “sex kitten” who reigned supreme from 1952 – 1973, is currently on trial for the fifth time for insulting Muslims and “inciting racial hatred.” Bardot has been fined four times and has also received suspended jail sentences.

Now, the prosecutor, Anne de Fontette, wants a heftier fine and a tougher sentence: the equivalent of $24,000 and a two month (hopefully) suspended jail term.

What crimes has Bardot committed in the land without a First Amendment, in the land of Hate Speech laws that are being slickly exploited by non-persecuted Muslims?

Bardot has written: “I am fed up with being under the thumb of this population which is destroying us, destroying our country.”

Bardot, seventy[-]nine, is an avid animal rights activist and abhors the slaughter of animals for any purpose, including religious ones. But mainly, she laments “the Islamization of France.” » | Dr. Phyllis Chesler | Friday, February 20, 2015

Brigitte Bardot Calls Marine Le Pen 'Modern Joan of Arc'

Brigitte Bardot has described Marine Le Pen as
"the Joan of Arc of the 21st century"

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Former actress Brigitte Bardot says she hopes the far-right leader will be the saviour of France in a Paris-Match interview before her 80th birthday

Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s icon of liberated, bikini-clad French womanhood, has described the far-right leader Marine Le Pen as "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century" in an interview with Paris-Match.

The magazine published a topless photo of the former actress, taken in 1967 when she was 33, on its cover this week as she prepares to celebrate her 80th birthday in September.

"I am a native Frenchwoman and proud of it," Bardot said. "I mourn the fact that my beautiful country has deteriorated in every way. It's criminal to submit to these depths."

Now an animal rights activist, she is an outspoken supporter of Ms Le Pen's anti-immigration Front National party, which topped the vote in European elections earlier this year amid widespread discontent with the Socialist government over record unemployment and the stagnant economy.

"I hope she [Ms Le Pen] saves France. She is the Joan of Arc of the 21st century," Bardot said. Burned at the stake for heresy in 1431, Joan of Arc is a Roman Catholic saint, sometimes referred to as the "mother of the French nation". » | David Chazan, Paris | Friday, August 22, 2014

Brigitte Bardot Accuses French Police of Brutality

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Brigitte Bardot today accused French police of "savagery" after a man was left in a coma when they cleared anti-bullfighting protestors from an arena.

Dozens of animal rights demonstrators were hurt during the clearance in Rion-des-Landes, close to the Spanish border in south west France, on Sunday.

Around 80 of them had attended the bullfight, including members of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which is run by the retired movie star.

One of the eight most seriously hurt was airlifted to hospital in Bordeaux, and has since been placed in an artificial coma because of his head injuries.

“If the barbarity behind the torture of bulls and their bloody deaths are tolerated in certain regions in the name of an obsolete, ridiculous, indecent and sadistic tradition, then the right to protest peacefully should also equally and legally be respected in a democracy,” said Ms Bardot, 78.

The family of the injured man – identified only as Alain – are now set to press criminal charges against the police, saying they caused his injuries on purpose. » | Peter Allen in Paris | Monday, August 26, 2013

Gunther Sachs: Playboys of the World RIP
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Taki Theodoracopulos mourns the passing of Gunther Sachs – and an era when gentlemen played hard and died young

The cliché “end of an era” is always used when a stalwart of a period passes away. I read it in most reports about Gunther Sachs’s suicide last week. The trouble is that Gunther’s era ended long ago, during the late Sixties, when the word “playboy” was considered a badge of honour among those of us who preferred playing rather than working.

It was a sleepy, unhurried, bygone age, yet most of the famous playboys died violently: Alfonso de Portago, a Spanish marquis of impeccable credentials, died at 27 driving his Ferrari in the Miglia Mille race in May 1957 in Italy. Prince Aly Khan, son of the Aga Khan, a diplomat, second husband of Rita Hayworth, and a fabled seducer, died aged 49, driving his Lancia to a Paris party when he hit an oncoming car and was given le coup du lapin by his chauffeur, whom Aly had placed in the back seat.

The greatest playboy of them all, the Dominican diplomat and sportsman Porfirio Rubirosa, five-times married, husband of three of the world’s richest women and two of the most beautiful, died in the park of St Cloud near Paris, returning from a party following a polo game in which I had played. It was 5am and Rubi was driving a Ferrari at full speed. The date was July 6 1965 and he was 56 years old.

Juan Capuro, a South American diplomat perennially posted in Paris and a Don Juan sans pareil, as well as the best-looking man of his generation, died in 1966 driving a Porsche, after an all‑nighter, needless to say. Prince Raimondo Lanza, a nephew of the great Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa, and the model for Prince Tancredi in Lampedusa’s elegiac lament for a lost Sicilian world, The Leopard, threw himself out of an Excelsior Hotel window in Rome in 1958, having ingested too much Bolivian marching powder. » | Taki Theodoracopulos | Friday, May 13, 2011

My comment:

Excellent article! Thank you, Sir! It makes a great change from politics, religion, and all the problems of the world. You are obviously a man who appreciates style and class! You, Sir, describe a life most charming. Would that I could have sampled such an enchanting life, if only for a short time. We have degenerated so much as a civilization that people now regard those with tattoos and piercings as “style icons,” the more tattoos, the more piercings the merrier! You, by contrast, describe a very different life. You describe la belle vie pour ceux qui ont apprécié la beauté dans la vie et l'esthétique. Hélas, pour nous aujourd'hui, c’est une epoch passé. – Mark

This comment also appears here

Brigitte Bardot Asks Bruni For Bull Support
SKY NEWS: Former actress turned animal rights campaigner Brigitte Bardot has asked France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, to convince her husband to ban bull-fighting.

The 1960s blonde bombshell asked Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy, in a letter, to get behind her campaign and sway President Nicolas Sarkozy on the issue.

She wrote "Could you convince your husband to ban bullfights, this atrocious spectacle of death, by telling him 'someone told me France must no longer allow the death of a tortured animal'?"

The letter thanked former supermodel Bruni-Sarkozy for taking a public stance against wearing fur.

Bruni-Sarkozy wrote to PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals) last month assuring the organisation that she would never buy, wear or own fur.

"I can't tell you how important this stance is in the struggle I have pursued for so many years," Bardot wrote.

The 74-year-old retired from showbusiness 30 years ago and has concentrated all her attention on animal welfare. >>> | Friday, July 17, 2009

On Brigitte Bardot

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback – USA)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardcover – USA)

If This Is Europe, Then We Need Out! Spunkless and Spineless!
Photo of Brigitte Bardot courtesy of the BBC
BBC: A French court has fined former film star Brigitte Bardot 15,000 euros (£12,000) for inciting racial hatred.

She was prosecuted over a letter published on her website that complained Muslims were "destroying our country by imposing their ways".

It is the fifth time Ms Bardot been convicted over her controversial remarks about Islam and its followers. This is her heaviest fine so far.

The French film idol, who is 73, was not in court to hear the ruling.

The fine - equivalent to $23,000 - related to a letter she wrote in December 2006 to the then Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, which was published on her website, in which she deplored the slaughter of animals for the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha.

She demanded that the animals be stunned before being killed.

She said she was "tired of being led by the nose by this population that is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing its acts".

In a letter to the court Ms Bardot, who is a prominent animal rights campaigner, insisted she had a right to speak up for animal welfare.

The prosecutor said she was weary of charging Ms Bardot with offences relating to racial hatred and xenophobia. [Source: Bardot Fined over Racial Hatred]

FORBES:
Former Screen Siren Bardot Convicted in Race Case >>> Associated Press | June 3, 2008

Brigitte Bardot vous souhaite la bienvenue

The Foundation (in English)

La fondation (en français)

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Peter Boyles on Bardot
COLORADO MEDIA MATTERS: After reading from what apparently was an April 15 Reuters article stating that French actress Brigitte Bardot was charged for the fifth time with "inciting racial hatred" over her "controversial remarks about Islam and its followers," Peter Boyles exclaimed on his April 23 630 KHOW-AM broadcast, "I love her more now than I did when I was 15 years old." Boyles on Bardot's Anti-Muslim Remarks: "I Love Her More Now than I Did When I Was 15 Years Old" >>>

AUDIO CLIP: Boyles on Bardot

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)

Brigitte Bardot, the French Sex Kitten of the 1960’s, on Trial for “Inciting Racial Hatred”
Photo of Brigitte Bardot in her heyday courtesy of Google Images
"I've had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, destroying our country by imposing their ways." - Brigitte Bardot
TIME: She may be better remembered as the revolutionary sex kitten of 1960s French cinema, but these days Brigitte Bardot is better known as a standard-bearer of the anti-immigrant wing of France's political spectrum. Bardot went on trial Tuesday charged with "inciting racial hatred," and in view of her four previous convictions on similar charges, prosecutors sought exceptionally stiff penalties of $22,000 and a two month suspended sentence.

"I'm a bit tired of trying Madame Bardot," admitted assistant prosecutor Anne de Fonette, as she urged the court to impose "the most striking and remarkable" punishment in the case. A verdict is expected on June 3.

The current charge against Bardot was lodged by the Movement Against Racism and for Friendship between Peoples (MRAP), citing a letter Bardot wrote to French officials in 2004 in which she alluded to Muslims as "this population that leads us around by the nose, [and] which destroys our country." The former actress-turned-animal rights crusader had written that letter to protest the ritual slaughter of sheep during the Muslim festival of Eid-al-Kabir. Her missive, whose contents were later leaked to the media, had been sent to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, whose rising popularity was based in part on his hard line on immigration and tough stand against troublesome youths from immigrant backgrounds.

Lawyers for the 73 year-old Bardot, who did not attend the trial, argued the offending sections of the letter had been taken out of the context of her militant defense of animal rights over the years, a cause in support of which she has raised and spent millions of dollars. Her work in the area has been hailed by French political leaders and organizations around the world, although more recently French courts have interpreted some of her statements as Islamophobia. Is Brigitte Bardot Bashing Islam? >>> By Bruce Crumley in Paris | April 15, 2008

REUTERS:
Brigitte Bardot on Trial for Muslim Slur >>> | April 15, 2008

FRANCE 24:
Brigitte Bardot Risks Prison for Hate Speech >>> | April 16, 2008

The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Paperback - UK)
The Dawning of a New Dark Age (Hardback - UK)