Brigitte Bardot Controversy

Brigitte Bardot's legacy is a complicated mix of movie stardom and deep-seated controversy. She went from being a global symbol of sexual freedom to a figurehead for far-right provocation. She spent the last half of her life fighting for animal rights, but her six criminal convictions for inciting racial and religious hatred between 1997 and 2021 often overshadowed her activism. Her most hateful public comments were often aimed at France's Muslim community, where she mixed her concerns about animal welfare (like ritual slaughter) with racist talk about the "Islamization" of France and immigration. She became more radicalized by openly supporting the far-right National Rally party and its leaders, Jean-Marie and Marine Le Pen.

Bardot's dismissive views on modern movements caused a lot of social backlash. For example, she called the #MeToo movement "hypocritical" and was criticized for making homophobic comments in her writing. Her personal problems were just as shocking, especially when her son sued her after she called her pregnancy a "tumor" in her memoir and said she had no maternal instinct. She was still a very divisive figure when she died in late 2025. She had once been the "face of France" (Marianne), but by the time she died, she had become a symbol of the country's deepest cultural and political divides.