Brigitte Bardot is a former French film actress who would prefer to be better known today for her rampant animal rights activism. Despite the fact that Brigitte left film behind in the mid-1970s. Her image in features such as 1956’s And God Created Women remains iconic. Many credit Brigitte with being one of the first sex kittens to ever grace the screen. Making it all the more poetic when she went on to dedicate her life to animals. Join Facts Verse as we take a look at how sex kitten Brigitte Bardot made a big career change.
Starlet, Brigitte Bardot was born in Paris, France, on the 28th of September, 1934. Her father was a talented engineer who worked for Brigitte’s grandfather in the family business. While Brigitte was still young, her mother got her interested in the arts. The young girl started practicing her music and dancing skills. Leading to her becoming a fairly talented performer by the time she was a teenager. During her teenage years, she also began delving into modeling. As the young woman had proved quite a beauty upon her coming of age!
Soon after starting her modeling career, Brigitte could be seen prominently in the magazine Elle, leading to further modeling opportunities. These modeling opportunities then led to film opportunities. And Brigitte found herself breaking out into the French film scene during the early 1950s. Her first appearance on the big screen came in the French comedy Crazy for Love, which released in 1952. That year proved a big year for Brigitte as two film roles followed, and getting married for the first time.
Brigitte Bardot’s Married Life
Brigitte has been married four times throughout her life, with her first husband having been French film director Roger Vadim. The two tied the knot in 1952. And Roger went on to direct one of Brigitte’s most iconic features several years later. With 1956’s And God Created Women. Although Brigitte Bardot’s marriage to Roger Vadim yielded one of the biggest hits of her career in entertainment. But their marriage didn’t end up long. The pair split up in 1957, only a year after the release of And God Created Women. Brigitte would go on to remarry three times, and is currently still with her fourth husband today. Following Brigitte’s string of French films in 1952. The actress headed over to the United States for the first time to film the 1953 feature Act of Love with Kirk Douglas.
Following Brigitte Bardot’s first appearance in an American production in 1953. The actress continued to appear in both French and American productions throughout her remaining time in the entertainment industry. While Brigitte certainly had a massive impact in France. Her looks and sexuality had a unique effect on American audiences. The American audience became instantly smitten with the star. With Brigitte’s audience in the United States growing so rampant that many of her French films ended up being dubbed. And brought over for release in America. The audience didn’t mind the dubbing, as most of them came just to leer at Brigitte on the big screen!
Brigitte Bardot Success Years
It wasn’t long before Brigitte Bardot became known to the world as the preeminent sex kitten of her time. And many credit the star with being one of the first sex kittens ever. The public’s fascination with Brigitte became so severe that there were even movies made about it. Such as the 1965 film Dear Brigitte. The film centered around a young boy genius with a giant crush on Brigitte, with the iconic French actress making a small cameo.
Brigitte Bardot’s success in the entertainment industry continued in the 1970s. However, the star ended up making the shocking decision to leave it all behind during the middle of the decade. Brigitte’s last appearance on film ended up being in the 1973 feature The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot. Since then, the actress has dedicated herself to a decidedly purer pursuit, with that pursuit being animal rights activism.
Throughout Brigitte’s career in entertainment, she began developing an increasingly negative attitude towards her fans. It seems that members of her audience harassed Brigitte multiple times throughout her career. And it grew to the point where the star could no longer stand being around people! After two decades in entertainment, the French sex symbol decided that her career in the industry was no longer worth it. Instead, the star was going to step out of the public spotlight and become a full-fledged animal rights activist.
Brigitte Bardot’s Retirement
Brigitte Bardot was just about to turn 40 years old when she made the decision to retire from the entertainment industry for good. Soon after retiring, Brigitte started her own animal rights foundation, dubbed the Foundation Brigitte Bardot. Nowadays, Brigitte lives with fourth husband Bernard d’Ormale, whom she married in 1992. Following her marriage to Roger Vadim. Brigitte had two more short-lived marriages during her career in the entertainment industry. Before remaining unmarried for a couple of decades throughout the 1970s and 1980s. It seems that patience paid off for Brigitte, when she finally married her fourth and final husband. Legend has it that the pair shares over 50 pets at their household.
From an outside perspective, Brigitte Bardot was one of the most esteemed screen idols of her time. Leading many onlookers to become quite baffled with she decided to give it all up. However, the work that Brigitte has done with animals seems to be much more important to her than the work that she did in the entertainment industry. At this point, the 87-year-old former actress has been working as an animal rights activist for far longer than she worked in film.
Brigitte Bardot as an Animal Rights Activist
Besides the fact that Brigitte Bardot is simply more passionate about animal rights activism than she ever was about acting. The former sex kitten has also claimed that she couldn’t stand being a public sex symbol. According to Brigitte, she grew to despise her celebrity status during her years in the spotlight. Although Brigitte is still a public figure. Fans nowadays are much less likely to try and approach the former sex symbol for a friendly hug than they were back in the days that she was gracing the big screen.
Brigitte Bardot has shared that her days of being preyed upon by leering fans have given her a firsthand taste of what it’s like to be a hunted animal. In turn, the actress claims that this has given her a keen understanding of the struggles that animals face in the human world. While making her decision to leave the entertainment industry behind. Brigitte also drew attention to such tragic industry deaths as those of actresses Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe, both of whom had passed away far too early as a result of their celebrity.
From this perspective, Brigitte Bardot began to view leaving the entertainment industry as a necessary life choice if she wanted to continue to live happily and healthily! Both Jayne Mansfield and Marilyn Monroe passed away over the course of the 1960s. Which was the decade when Brigitte Bardot found herself at the peak of her career success. While Brigitte had initially been happy about all of the attention that she was receiving in the entertainment industry after making her debut during the early 1950s. The actress soon grew tired of it and started fantasizing about leaving it all behind.
Why is Brigitte Bardot Leaving the Entertainment Industry?
Brigitte Bardot’s decision to leave the entertainment industry behind was a longtime coming, and she hasn’t looked back! The former actress claims that she suffered from low self-esteem as a child. Which made her seek attention through such things as modeling at a young age. The star quickly found that she greatly preferred a life of seclusion to life in the spotlight. It apparently got to the point where Brigitte couldn’t walk around a corner without fearing that there were paparazzi waiting for her in the bushes. Nowadays, Brigitte lives a much more secluded life. Still, the actress wishes that she could leave her past as a public figure behind completely.
According to Brigitte, it’s still hard for her to go out in public without being leered at by fans that recognize her from her former works. The actress is still somewhat of a public figure who draws attention for her animal rights activism. And also oftentimes draws controversy for sharing her radical beliefs. Brigitte’s animal rights activism has found her butt heads with numerous minority groups whose practices the former sex kitten believes are barbaric.
Brigitte Bardot Foundation
Brigitte openly criticized a group of native islanders for various practices involving animals, leading to the actress being fined tens of thousands of dollars in French court. The actress has also gained controversy for her anti-Muslim rhetoric, with her finding issue with Muslims for similar reasons. While Brigitte might need to rethink her tactics when it comes to disparaging minority groups, it seems that the Foundation Brigitte Bardot has done plenty of great work! Brigitte’s foundation has financed the construction a Chilean hospital for wild animals, as well as rescues in Bulgaria, Australia, Thailand, and Tunisia for endangered species.
Although French film actress Brigitte Bardot has been credited by many with defining what it means to be a sex kitten in the entertainment industry. She chose to leave it all behind at the peak of her fame in order to dedicate her life to animal rights activism. Now it’s time to hear from you: did you know that many consider French film actress Brigitte Bardot to be the first true sex kitten, and that she decided to leave it all behind at the peak of her career success in order to dedicate herself to her true passion?
