Brigitte Bardot’s cause of death and final words have been revealed by her husband, Bernard d’Ormale, nearly two weeks after her death at 91.
Businessman d’Ormale, who married the French cultural icon in 1992, told Paris Match that Bardot had undergone two major operations in the weeks before her death after being diagnosed with cancer. He did not disclose the type of cancer Bardot had been diagnosed with.
“I was half asleep beside her. I sat up when I heard her say ‘Pioupiou,’ that little nickname we used for each other in private, and then it was over,” he said of her final moments.
“A sense of peace and tranquility settled over her face. And she became incredibly beautiful again, just like in her youth. You wouldn’t have believed she was 91.”
News of her death was announced “with immense sadness” by The Brigitte Bardot Foundation on Sunday (28 December), who called the star “a world-renowned actress and singer, who chose to abandon her prestigious career to dedicate her life and energy to animal welfare and her foundation.”
Bardot will be laid to rest in a private ceremony at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Catholic Church in Saint Tropez on Wednesday, January 7. Local authorities have arranged for the ceremony to be broadcast live on large screens at the port and two town plazas, allowing residents and admirers to participate in the farewell.
Following the church service, Bardot will be interred “in the strictest privacy” at a cemetery overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, according to Saint-Tropez town hall. The picturesque town, which she adopted as her refuge from the glare of global celebrity, will also host a public homage for admirers.
“Brigitte Bardot will forever be associated with Saint-Tropez, of which she was the most dazzling ambassador,” the town hall stated last week. “Through her presence, personality and aura, she marked the history of our town.”
Bardot’s death arrived just one month after the star’s foundation said reports of her ill health were “false.” Bardot underwent a “minor” surgical procedure in October, it said.
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Her burial will take place in the so-called marine cemetery, where her parents are also interred.
This scenic burial ground is also the final resting place of several cultural figures, including her first husband, filmmaker Roger Vadim, who directed her breakout role in And God Created Woman, the film that propelled her to worldwide stardom.
By the end of the 1950s, Bardot was the highest-paid actress in France. Despite substantial financial offers, Bardot never moved to Hollywood. Instead, she largely remained a star of European cinema, earning widespread praise for her performance in Godard’s Contempt in 1963. After 47 films, she announced her retirement from acting in 1973, at the age of 39, saying she wanted “a way to get out elegantly.”
In her later years, Bardot dedicated herself to animal welfare through the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
She also courted controversy on several occasions with racist and offensive public remarks.
French president Emmanuel Macron led tributes to the star, writing: “Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom. French existence, universal brilliance. She touched us. We mourn a legend of the century.”
Bardot is survived by d’Ormale and her son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier.
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