15 main hypostases of Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born in Paris on September 28, 1934. Her life is full of contradictions, but her talent and outstanding appearance are admirable. The famous French actress and singer, a fierce defender of animals and an implacable fighter against immigrants and homosexuals, a sex symbol and a symbol of France — it's all about her.

1. Bardo dancer

Under the influence of her mother, Bardo, along with her younger sister, was engaged in dancing since childhood. Brigitte, who was not a capable student at school, but had natural plasticity and grace, decided to focus on a ballet career. In 1947, she passed the entrance exam to the National Academy of Dance and, despite strict selection and a limited number of places, was among the eight enrolled for training. For three years she attended the class of the Russian choreographer Boris Knyazev.

2. Bardo model

In 1949, 15-year-old Brigitte already participated in a fashion show at the invitation of a friend of her mother; in the same year she starred for the magazine Jardin des Modes ("Garden of Fashion"). And a little later she appeared for the first time on the cover of ELLE magazine and was noticed by the aspiring director Roger Vadim.

3. Bardo — actress

For the first time, the future star starred in a movie in 1952. Her 21-year career in cinema includes more than 50 films. Worldwide popularity came to Brigitte thanks to her role in the film "And God created a Woman" in 1956, where she played the main character — an unbridled eighteen-year-old Juliette Ardee, rushing between several men. Historians consider the painting a harbinger of the sexual revolution of the 1960s.

4. The Bardo is a sex symbol

In the 1950s, Brigitte was as much a sex symbol for Europe as Marilyn Monroe was for America. In 1995, she became 9th in Empire magazine's list of the "100 sexiest stars in the history of cinema", and in 2011 she was included in Men's Health magazine's list of the "100 hottest Women of all time".

"I'm actually a cat transformed into a woman. I'm purring. I'm scratching. And sometimes I can bite" — Brigitte Bardot.

5. The Bardo is a symbol of France

Despite her rather scandalous "sexual" popularity, in 1970 Brigitte was chosen as a model for a bust of Marianne, a symbol of France. Marianne is a national symbol, as well as the nickname of France since the Great French Revolution. She is the personification of the national motto of France "Freedom, equality, fraternity". Busts of Marianne (and with them the bust of Brigitte) are a mandatory attribute of government institutions, courts and municipalities, and her images are placed on the state seal of France, postage stamps and coins.

6. Bardo — wife and mother

As for family life, then everything was not going so smoothly for the catwoman. Brigitte was married 4 times in total, but the most remarkable, perhaps, will be the story of her second marriage to actor Jacques Charrier, from whom Bardot gave birth to a son Nicolas in 1960. Motherhood and home life were, to put it mildly, not to the taste of the star. When her son turned 2 years old, she wanted to part with her husband. After the divorce, she left the child to be raised in the Sharye family. In her book of memoirs, The Initials of B. B., Brigitte admits: she did not feel "great love" for Sharya and married him only because she was already expecting a child, which, by the way, she really did not want. When Nicolas was born, she "didn't want to see him anymore." In response to such statements, the ex-husband had no choice but to write his own "response" book, presenting Bardo on its pages as a flighty beauty, a heartless mother and a vile wife. According to Jacques, he wrote "the real story of their relationship" in order not only to protect his honor and the honor of his son, but also to slightly lower the Bardo to the ground, which in his memoirs created a far from the truth image of a fragile angel woman painfully seeking love.

"It's better to be unfaithful than faithful against your will" — Brigitte Bardot.

7. Bardo — animal defender

In 1973, shortly before her fortieth birthday, Bardot announced the end of her film career and devoted her later life to fighting for animal rights. In 1986, she opened the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for Animal Welfare and Protection and earned 3 million francs by auctioning jewelry and personal belongings to support the foundation.

On September 28, 2009, on her 75th birthday, Bardot in an open letter made a request to actress Sophia Loren to give up wearing furs. According to her, it would be the best gift for her. Lauren never answered.

Now Brigitte lives alone in a villa with several hundred animals. "A dog brings pain only when it dies" — Brigitte Bardot.

8. Bardo is a fighter against immigrants

The defender of animals is not at all so favorable to some representatives of people. Since the 1990s, Brigitte has repeatedly criticized immigrants and Islam in France, homosexuality and interracial marriages, as a result of which she was convicted five times "for inciting ethnic hatred." On June 3, 2008, the trial ended with the largest fine in her life — 15,000 euros, received because of a letter addressed to Nicolas Sarkozy, in which Bardot objected to the ritual cutting of the throats of sheep on a Muslim holiday without stunning and decried the rapidly growing Muslim community trying to seize power and spread its culture, values, lifestyle. The prosecutor said he was already tired of charging Bardot because of racial hostility.

"We have already suffered enough from this population that surrounds us, which destroys us, destroys our country, imposing its customs on us" — Brigitte Bardot about Muslim immigrants.

9. Bardo singer

During her career in show business, Brigitte has recorded 80 songs, performed in various music shows. She recorded several hits with her lover Serge Gainsbourg, including the infamous "I Love You... I don't love You either" (Je t'aime... moi non plus). Despite the fact that the song was dedicated to Brigitte, she begged Serge not to publish their record, so a year later her vocals were replaced by the voice of Jane Birkin.

10. The Bardo is a source of inspiration

It is known that Brigitte Bardot was the ideal of beauty for young John Lennon. As a symbol of the 50s, her name is mentioned in many popular songs, including hits performed by The Who (It's Not Enough), Red Hot Chili Peppers (Warlocks), Bob Dylan (I Shall Be Free), Elton John (I Think I'm Going to Kill Myself) and Nina Hagen (Frühling in Paris). In the film-musical "Across the Universe", based on 34 compositions by The Beatles, her portrait adorns the Princeton University dormitory, where the characters of the picture live.

11. Bardot is a trendsetter

It is believed that Bardot introduced bikini swimwear into fashion, flaunting them at the Cannes Film Festival and in her early films. And also checkered clothes, appearing in a pink plaid dress at her wedding with Jacques Charrier, and a "sauerkraut" hairstyle: an intermediate option between a high ponytail and babette, a careless half-tail on top with falling bangs. Brigitte also contributed to the growing popularity of the resort towns of Saint-Tropez (France) and Buzios (Brazil) as places to relax.

12. Bardo — designer

In 2010, together with Lancel house, Brigitte came up with a B.B. handbag that reflects her tastes, her life and her figure. This is the real embodiment of femininity and naturalness — as, indeed, Brigitte herself, who has not done a single plastic surgery in her entire life.

13. Bardo is a lover of young men

After another divorce (and sometimes while still married), Brigitte began to walk with almost every first comer. Most of her lovers were young gigolos.

"I've always adored handsome young men. My taste doesn't change just because I'm getting older. And if I can still have them, then why not?.." — Brigitte Bardot.

14. Bardo is the winner of breast cancer

When Brigitte was diagnosed with breast cancer in 83, she initially refused treatment, believing that this was her fate. It was only thanks to her friend, actress Marina Vladi, who flew to Saint Tropez to persuade her to start treatment, that she eventually defeated cancer.

15. Bardo is a potential citizen of Russia

Inspired by the act of Gerard Depardieu, Brigitte Bardot said in January 2013 that she could ask for Russian citizenship if two elephants with tuberculosis were euthanized in Lyon.