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Brigitte Bardot
Brigitte Bardot was born on September 28th, 1934 in Paris, France. Her father was a wealthy industrialist. Her mother encouraged her early interest in music and dance and she was provided with various lessons, including ballet, when she was very young. By the time she was fifteen she was asked to model for Elle Magazine. Her first film role came when she was eighteen years old in Le Trou Normand. Later that same year she married her boyfriend of several years, director of Le Trou, Roger Vadim, who was six years her senior. Her acting skills, ethereal beauty and innate sensuality catapulted her above most other European actresses. She received enormous media attention world wide and was soon an international sex icon. She did not star in as many film roles in the United States as she did in Europe due to several reasons, one of them being her heavy French accent. This did not stop media and public interest in the star, however, and whenever she visited the States she was mobbed by both. She had several small parts in English language films including Doctor at Sea, Helen of Troy and Act of Love. Her French films made their way into the American theaters after being dubbed and released internationally. Her breakthrough into the American movie mainstream came when she starred in the film And God Created Woman which was released in the latter part of the 1950's and became an international sensation. However, the subject matter was still considered risqué for predominantly demure American audiences. It was not until the early 1960's that her films became more acceptable to general audiences and she began to receive numerous offers from Hollywood, which she refused. She chose to stay and work in Europe where she was embraced and roles that suited her were offered more readily. In 1957 she divorced Roger Vadim and two years later married French actor Jacques Charrier who was two years younger than she. The couple had one son together named Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, before divorcing in 1962. She gave custody of him to her ex-husband and continues to be estranged from her son to this day. In 1966 she then married millionaire Gunther Sachs, and divorced him in 1969. She re-married again, much later in life, to Bernard d'Ormale in August of 1992. In addition to her sexual outspokenness, Bardot is notorious for her suicide attempts and she made many throughout her life. The first being when she was yet a teenager. She continued to be suicidal well into her thirties, which has caused many to speculate that she had an undiagnosed emotional disorder. She also was very disparaging about her looks and often commented to others that she was ugly and unattractive, she particularly hated her lips and nose and would often cry over her reflection before the mirror. She left acting altogether in 1973 after making over forty-three films in her lifetime. She has often stated that she did not want to pursue a career in entertainment but that her first husband Roger Vadim encouraged her and helped her to perfect her acting skills. He saw something in Bardot that he felt was unique and special and she credits him with helping her overcome her many insecurities. Since retiring she has become very active in animal rights efforts and sold many of her own possessions to create the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals. In her typical fashion of duality, she is extremely left wing in regard to animal welfare, and just as far right in regard to many sensitive political issues. While she is admired for her efforts involving animal rights, she seems to have made many enemies for her disregard for human rights, specifically those concerning Islam in France, feminism, immigration and homosexuality. She has been taken to court and fined on many occasions for statements she has made to the media and in her book A Scream in The Silence. While many find her views offensive she certainly has every right to express them openly and apparently agrees with this assertion as she continues to do so despite warnings from French courts. Tidbits
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