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By Marni Rose McFall and Shane Croucher
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The French actress Brigitte Bardot died from cancer, her husband Bernard d’Ormale said.
Bardot died at her home in Saint-Tropez, aged 91, on December 28. Her funeral takes place on Wednesday.
According to d'Ormale, who spoke to the French magazine Paris Match, Bardot struggled to recover from two operations to treat her cancer and was suffering from severe back pain.
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The Context
Bardot was an icon of French cinema who rose to international fame through the 1950s and 1960s. Bardot appeared in almost 50 films throughout her career, including Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt in 1963. She became synonymous with sexual liberation and helped to define modern French femininity through films like And God Created Woman.
Later in life, Bardot's outspoken criticism of immigration, Islam, and same-sex relationships led to multiple convictions and fines in French courts for inciting racial hatred.
Public opinion became sharply divided, particularly as she became associated with far-right politics through d’Ormale, a former adviser to National Front founder Jean-Marie Le Pen.
What To Know
D'Ormale told Paris Match that Bardot's desire to live "slipped out two or three times in recent months, in moments of physical suffering—she would say, 'I’ve had enough, I want to go'."
"It was cancer that took her away," he said, adding that Bardot "had resisted very well" to the operations she had undergone to fight the disease.
D'Ormale said that Bardot had wanted to return to La Madrague, her famous seaside home in Saint-Tropez, but it was "more complicated" due to "back pain that did not go away, made her suffer, exhausted her."
Bardot and d’Ormale met in 1992 and married that same year. D’Ormale was Bardot’s fourth husband.
What People Are Saying
Bernard d’Ormale told Paris Match: "Brigitte wanted to leave, it escaped her two or three times in recent months in moments of physical suffering. She was desperate not to be able to make progress, and I think that a little bit because of that, without us realizing it, she let go."
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on X in December: "Her films, her voice, her dazzling fame, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne—Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. A French existence, a universal brilliance. She moved us. We mourn a legend of the century."
The Brigitte Bardot Foundation said in December: "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."
What Happens Next
Bardot's funeral will take place in Saint Tropez in the French Riviera on Wednesday. There will be both a private service and a public homage for her.
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