Brigitte Bardot, an icon of French cinema and one of the country’s best-known stars, has died at the age of 91.
Often referred to by her initials, Bibi was considered both a feminist and a femme fatale – but controversy was also part of her life.
Born on September 28, 1934 in Paris, the daughter of an industrialist, Brigitte Bardot was recognized as a model at the age of 15. She became even more popular once she dyed her brown hair blonde, making her, like Marilyn Monroe, one of the most famous “blonde” women of the 20th century.
In the 21st century, fashion magazines celebrated “BB blonde” as the ideal shade of blonde.
symbol of sexual liberation
Bardot began appearing in films at the age of 18, but international interest first peaked in Roger Vadim’s 1956 romantic drama “And God Created Woman.” In the film, she played an independent young woman in a respectable seaside town.
In America, the film was deemed too shocking to be released; The theater managers who showed it were arrested. But this helped rather than hindered the film’s success, and Bardot became an international star.
He starred in more than 40 films, including Jean-Luc Godard’s “Contempt” (1963), Henri-Georges Clouzot’s “The Truth” (1960) and Louis Malle’s “Viva Maria!” (1965)
Bibi also recorded many popular songs in the 1960s and 1970s with the likes of Serge Gainsbourg and Sascha Distel.
As a fashion model, she was the inspiration for great designers including Dior, Balmain and Pierre Cardin. Her many love stories and affairs never failed to make headlines and she became a symbol of sexual liberation of that time.
In her 1959 essay, “The Lolita Syndrome”, Simone de Beauvoir described Bibi as “the locomotive of women’s history” and declared her the most liberated woman of post-war France.
Bardot retired from acting in 1973, but remained a major star throughout her life.
From 1969 to 1978, she modeled for the official statue of Marianne, France’s national symbol of independence.
From acting to animal welfare
Instead of acting, she used her international fame to campaign for animal rights and conservation, which became the main focus of the later part of her life.
Among other things, he urged the introduction of bolt guns in slaughterhouses to kill animals with as little pain as possible.
In 1976, she joined a global campaign against seal hunting. Then in 1986, she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which still campaigns for animal welfare around the world today.
flow to the right
Later in his life, he made headlines for allegedly making racially insensitive statements, and was found guilty several times by French courts of inciting racial hatred against Muslims or native Indian Ocean islanders.
In 2012, Bardot emerged as a strong supporter of France’s far-right presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, at one time calling her “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century” who would “save France.”
Bardot also spoke frequently on gay rights and gender issues, although she denied being homophobic and said she had many gay friends.
Also, he attributed the increasing cost of health care to the number of gender reassignment surgeries.
During the #MeToo debate about sexual harassment in the film business, she said that many actresses “teas” producers to get roles. “And then they say they were harassed so we’ll talk about them,” he said.
But beyond her many controversial statements, Brigitte Bardot’s iconic status will remain firmly entrenched in pop culture history.
This article was originally written in German.