French cinema icon Brigitte Bardot dies at 91

Brigitte Bardot, the French actress and animal rights activist, died on December 28, 2025, at age 91. The news was announced by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. She had been hospitalized in Toulon on November 24, near her home La Madrague in Saint-Tropez, and had previously denied false death rumors online. Born in Paris on September 28, 1934, to a wealthy industrialist, she appeared on the cover of Elle at 16 in 1950. She married Roger Vadim at 18 and had early film roles in Helen of Troy (1955) and Nero's Mistress (1956). The nickname B.B. came from Vadim's film And God Created Woman (1956), which was banned to minors in France but a success in the US. Life magazine wrote that no French woman since the Statue of Liberty had brought so much light to America. Her film career included The Girl Who Couldn't Say No (1958), The Truth (1960), A Very Private Affair (1962), and Contempt (1963). In 1970, sculptor Alain Goudon used her as the model for the bust of Marianne, the French national emblem. She retired from acting in 1974 with over 50 films and about 70 songs recorded, having worked with directors Jean-Luc Godard, Louis Malle, and Henri-Georges Clouzot. A vegetarian, she founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals in 1986, funded by 3 million francs from auctioning her jewelry and personal items. Her later years were also marked by controversial statements on immigration and social issues.