Bardot laid to rest in family graveyard

Husband reveals cinema icon died of cancer at age 91

SAINT-TROPEZ, FRANCE:

Well-wishers lined the streets of Brigitte Bardot's hometown of Saint-Tropez on Wednesday for the funeral of the French screen icon, as her husband revealed she had died of cancer at her home on December 28 at age aged 91.

Her wicker coffin was received on the steps of the Notre-Dame de l'Assomption church by her long-estranged son at the start of a traditional Catholic funeral service in the morning. She was buried later in the day at her family's Mediterranean seaside grave.

Hundreds of people followed the proceedings on a giant screen installed at the yacht-lined port of Saint-Tropez — the town the star of 'And God Created Woman' helped transform into a glamorous playground for the wealthy.

At the televised church service, the most famous public identities of the reclusive star of the 1950s and 60s — New Wave cinema icon, animal-rights campaigner and far-right sympathiser — were all reflected.

The son of late film star Jean-Paul Belmondo attended, alongside far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen and animal activists whose causes Bardot helped publicise through her foundation.

Mourners filed past a photograph of Bardot with one of her dogs, while a well-known image of her cradling a baby seal was placed near the pulpit, surrounded by elaborate floral wreaths.

On the eve of the commemorations, Bardot's fourth husband, former far-right political adviser Bernard d'Ormale, revealed that she had undergone two operations for an unspecified cancer before the disease "took her".

After twice being hospitalised in late 2025, Bardot insisted on returning to her villa 'La Madrague', despite considerable physical discomfort, he told Paris Match in an interview about their life together. "She remained conscious and concerned about the welfare of animals until the very end."

D'Ormale was seated in the front row on Wednesday alongside Bardot's only child, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, who attended with his children and grandchildren. Now 65, Charrier was raised by his father, film director Jacques Charrier, and lives in Oslo.

The absence of a state commemoration for one of France's best-known celebrities, along with the mixed reaction to her death, reflects Bardot's divisive character and contested legacy. She is widely regarded as a cinema legend who embodied the revolution of the 1960s through her acting and unapologetically unconventional public persona.

President Emmanuel Macron's office had offered to organise a national homage similar to the one held for fellow New Wave star Belmondo in 2021, but the proposal was rejected by Bardot's family. Macron did not attend the funeral but sent a wreath.

Bardot was buried at a seaside cemetery in Saint-Tropez alongside her parents and grandparents. In 2018, she said she wished to be buried in the garden of her home with her pets, to avoid what she called a "crowd of idiots" trampling over her family graves.