Actor and prototype of liberated female sexuality

At 39, she quit 'this job,' devoted herself to animals and lived in near seclusion.

- BY GINA PICCALO

DOUGLAS KIRKLAND Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences FRENCH NATIONAL TREASURE Brigitte Bardot, seen in 1967, had her biggest box-office success with 1960's "The Truth." Later in her life, she was sued by two French rights groups over xenophobic and homophobic comments she made in her 2003 book.

Brigitte Bardot, the French actor idealized for her beauty and heralded in the midcentury as the prototype of liberated female sexuality, has died at 91.

Long withdrawn from the entertainment industry, Bardot died at her home in southern France, Bruno Jacquelin of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals confirmed to the Associated Press. He gave no cause of death. Bardot had dealt with infirm health in recent years, including hospitalization for a breathing issue in July 2023 and additional hospital stays in 2025.

Bardot was known for being mercurial, self-destructive and prone to reckless love affairs with men and women. She was a fashion icon and media darling who left acting at 39 and lived out the rest of her years in near seclusion, emerging periodically to champion animal rights, lecture about moral decay and espouse bigoted political views.

And, as if in protest of her famed beauty, Bardot happily allowed herself to age naturally.

In her prime, Bardot was considered a national treasure in France, received by President Charles de Gaulle at the Elysee Palace and analyzed exhaustively by existentialist philosopher Simone de Beauvoir. She was the girl whose poster adorned the bedroom of a teenage John Lennon.