Long considered the symbol of French seduction and nicknamed “France’s most admired export“, Brigitte Bardot had a love life as intense as her film career. Over the years, the late actress went through four marriages and numerous relationships, which she herself admitted to have exceeded a hundred, including with women, according to Daily Mail Online.
The iconic figure of the European “sex kitten”, Bardot has always been open about how she related to love and men. In her memoirs, she explained that the need for passion constantly pushed her to new adventures when a relationship became too quiet. For her, intensity was essential, and when she felt that the flame was going out, she left without hesitation, writes the cited source.
Born in 1934 to a wealthy family in Paris, Bardot grew up in the 16th arrondissement, within walking distance of the Eiffel Tower. She studied ballet as a child, and at 15 she already appeared on the cover of Elle magazine, a debut that would open her way to modeling and then to cinema.
A suicide attempt in the early 1950s
In the early 1950s, her style gradually transformed into the image that would make her famous: ballet flats, straight bangs, heavy lipstick, and figure-flattering outfits.
It was also then that he met Roger Vadim, the young assistant of director Marc Allégret. Although Bardot did not get the role for which she had been called to audition, the meeting with Vadim was decisive. Their relationship, initially hidden, aroused the opposition of her parents, and the tensions culminated in a suicide attempt by the actress, which led them to accept the relationship.
Marriage to Roger Vadim
Bardot and Vadim married in December 1952, and a few years later Bardot became an international phenomenon thanks to the film And God Created Woman, directed by Vadim himself. The film’s success in the United States turned her into a global sex symbol.
The marriage of the two fell apart quickly. After four years, Bardot and Vadim separated, and divorce followed in 1957, both admitting to infidelities.
Brigitte Bardot then began an intense relationship with Jean-Louis Trintignant, her partner in the film, but this also ended after two years, the actress later becoming involved in a relationship with singer Gilbert Bécaud, then with Sacha Distel.
Marriage to actor Jacques Charrier
In 1959, Bardot remarried actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she starred in Babette Goes to War.
Despite not wanting a child, pressure from Charrier’s family convinced her to carry the pregnancy to term. The birth of their son Nicolas in 1960 was difficult.
The relationship between mother and child was never welded.
The Bardot – Charrier divorce was pronounced in 1962, and custody went to the father, reports Daily Mail Online.
“I’m not cut out to be a mother”
Bardot later spoke candidly about her inability to adapt to the role of mother, admitting that she did not feel mature enough for the responsibilities of raising a child, a confession that further fueled the controversy surrounding her:
“I’m not cut out to be a mother. I don’t know why I think that, because I love animals and I love children, but I’m not old enough – I know it’s terrible to admit this, but I’m not old enough to take care of a child”
In her memoirs, Brigitte Bardot described with brutal honesty how deeply she rejected motherhood. She testified that the pregnancy caused her intense psychological distress, including self-harm and desperate attempts to obtain an abortion at a time when it was illegal.
She confessed that she would have preferred to “give birth to a puppy”
Bardot revealed how she repeatedly punched herself in the stomach and tried to get doctors to prescribe a lethal dose of morphine when she was refused an abortion
The actress added that she would have preferred to “give birth to a puppy“, according to the quoted source.
The harsh language used in the book to talk about her child later led to a lawsuit filed by her ex-husband and their son, which Bardot lost.
After the divorce from Jacques Charrier, the romantic life of the actress continued to be marked by successive relationships with famous actors and musicians, including Mike Sarne, Warren Beatty, Serge Gainsbourg or Nino Ferrer.
Marriage to German billionaire Gunter Sachs
In 1966, the actress married for the third time, German billionaire Gunter Sachs, who was known for extravagant gestures, including an air show with roses dropped from a helicopter in her Saint-Tropez backyard.
The marriage lasted only three years, falling apart amid repeated infidelities of the actress, but the two remained on cordial terms.
Rejected Sean Connery’s advances
Around the same time, Bardot reportedly rebuffed Sean Connery’s advances on the set of Shalako, later recounting the episode with irony.
The episode allegedly took place while the pair were filming the 1968 western Shalako, with the actress telling Vanity Fair that he came to her bed “completely naked except for his socks”.
Although she continued to be an iconic figure, the 70s and 80s brought her periods of loneliness and confusion as she searched for new meaning in life.
Marriage to Bernard d’Ormale
In 1992, she remarried Bernard d’Ormale, a businessman with controversial political connections.
It was her last marriage, one that lasted until her death, announced by the foundation that bears her name. The organization emphasized in the statement that Bardot gave up her artistic career to dedicate herself to the protection of animals, the cause that defined the last decades of her life.
The actress had been rarely seen in public in recent months and had been hospitalized in the fall, but had continued to communicate through the foundation, including to deny rumors of her death, according to the Daily Mail.
