Twenty years ago, she was viewed as the great French Marilyn Monroe. Her legacy has become more complex as the nature of her long political career riven with political controversy and passionate activism. She first climbed to popularity as a definitive silver screen legend. Sadly, her vocal embrace of France’s extreme right politics in the intervening years has all but erased her cinematic legacy. Bardot personally identifies with these ideas and does not shy away from being openly provocative. This outspoken nature has fostered a mixed—and frequently antagonistic—public image of her.
Bardot’s connection to far-right politics began in the 1990s when she openly supported Jean-Marie Le Pen’s National Front party. For more than 30 years, she was able to stay in the party’s orbit. This was played by her successor in the party, Marine Le Pen, who later rebranded it as the National Rally (RN). Bardot described the current state of France as “dull, sad, submissive, ill, ruined, ravaged, ordinary and vulgar,” asserting that the right represented “the only urgent remedy to the agony of France.”
In 1993, Bardot married Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to Jean-Marie Le Pen. This merger deepened her connection to far-right political extremism. Throughout her life, she met with numerous French presidents, ranging from Charles de Gaulle to Emmanuel Macron, often advocating for various causes. She lobbied the powers that be on animal rights matters. These were the importation of baby seal fur and elephant poaching.
Though Bardot’s been a passionate defender of animal rights, her far-right political beliefs have, rightly, drawn deserved condemnation. She was convicted on five counts of inciting racial hatred. Her inflammatory, racist remarks about Muslims and her use of the term “invasion sauvage” brought on these charges. Her extreme remarks didn’t even end with that. She had previously defended actor Gérard Depardieu after he was acquitted of sexually assaulting two women on a film set back in 2021.
Unfortunately, in her later years Bardot has voiced some pretty hateful opinions, including condemnation of the #MeToo movement. She said, “Feminism isn’t my thing … I love men,” which had many feminists clutching their pearls in incredulity. Her comments indicate a very clear direction and pattern to her rhetoric. Yet too often, she ignores or undermines current social movements with a traditional agenda.
Bardot’s activism hasn’t stopped at making political endorsements. She has gone so far as to consider taking asylum outside of France in protest against animal welfare scandals. She posted a selfie with a signed oath to apply for Russian citizenship. This pledge followed two elephant deaths by euthanasia for tuberculosis at a zoo in Lyon. This significant incident speaks to her fiery dedication to animal rights, even as her love for animals gets mixed with her more contentious political position.
In doing so, she inadvertently let slip her admiration for Jordan Bardella, the 27-year-old president of the RN. She called him “very good” after Macron’s sudden parliamentary majority moved the far-right closer to taking power. This admiration only adds to her lasting impact on the far-right terrain in France today.
Yet, as Bardot moves through her complicated identity as a cultural emblem and transgressive individual, she is a divisive provocateur. Many still admire her contributions to film and animal rights advocacy, while others criticize her for her political affiliations and provocative statements.