Brigitte Bardot's image complicated by her controversial politics

"Her image is complicated by the fact she was convicted five times for inciting racial hatred over remarks most of them about Muslims and what she called an invasion of foreigners in France, but also about people on the French island of Reunion, whom she described as savages. In her final book, Mon BBcedaire (My BB Alphabet), published weeks before her death, Bardot said the right which was how she termed Le Pen's party was the only urgent remedy to the agony of France,"

"Up until her death on Sunday, Bardot had expressed her contentment at Marine Le Pen's anti-immigration National Rally party's rising share of the vote before the 2027 presidential race. The film star, who quit cinema to become an animal rights activist, always said she only wanted to be remembered for the animal rights struggle which she called her sole cause."

"For more than 30 years from the 1990s onwards, Bardot supported Jean-Marie Le Pen's anti-immigration Front National, then backed his daughter, Marine Le Pen, who renamed the party National Rally (RN). In the 1990s, amid the rising presence of the far right on the French Riviera, where Bardot lived, she met her husband, Bernard d'Ormale, through the Le Pen family at a dinner organised in Saint-Tropez. In 1993, Bardot married d'Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen, who remained her husband until her death."

Brigitte Bardot was a major film star who channelled her glamour into long-term support for France's far right while later quitting cinema to become an animal rights activist. She backed Jean-Marie Le Pen's Front National from the 1990s and then Marine Le Pen's National Rally for more than 30 years, expressing contentment at the party's rising vote share ahead of the 2027 presidential race. She was convicted five times for inciting racial hatred over remarks mostly about Muslims and people from Reunion. Her public remarks and convictions complicated her legacy, alongside her marriage to Bernard d'Ormale, a former Le Pen adviser.

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