Brigitte Bardot was buried in a funeral service broadcast on Saint-Tropez Brigitte Bardot

Brigitte Bardot, the film star turned animal rights activist, has been buried after a funeral service in Saint-Tropez attended by her favorite politician, far-right leader Marine Le Pen.

Bardot died at the age of 91 at her villa in La Madrago on December 28. Her funeral was held at Notre-Dame de l’Assomption Church and was broadcast on big screens around the city.

Speaking before the service, Bardot’s husband, Bernard Dormal, said she died of cancer. Without specifying the type of cancer, he told Paris Match magazine that his wife coped “very well” with two operations before the disease “took her” last month.

Bardot gained international fame in the 1950s and was credited with revolutionizing French cinema with films such as “And God Created Woman,” while challenging tradition to become a symbol of sexual liberation.

She retired from acting in the 1970s and became an outspoken animal rights activist. She also became increasingly politically active on the far right, alienating some fans in later life due to her hard-line public views on immigration.

Bardot was convicted five times for hate speech, especially regarding Muslims, and until her death, she expressed satisfaction with the growing share of Le Pen’s anti-immigration National Rally party ahead of the 2027 presidential race.

The newspaper “Nice-Matin” reported that cheers prevailed on Wednesday as the funeral procession passed through the “Place de Lysis” square and next to the port of Saint-Tropez, before Bardot’s coffin entered the church with the playing of a song by Maria Callas.

In addition to the Bardot family, including her son Nicolas Jacques Charrier (65 years old), among those who attended the funeral were French singers Jean Rouch and Mireille Mathieu, television personality Caroline Margeridon, and Paul Watson, a Canadian-American activist for marine conservation and animal rights.

Le Pen, who cited Bardot as a model for Marianne, the female symbol of the French Republic – as the ultimate symbol of Frenchness – was also present. There was a mutual admiration between the two women: Bardot once referred to Le Pen as a modern-day Joan of Arc.

Pardo’s dedication to animal rights was expected to be a major theme at the funeral service.

Bruno Jacquelin, spokesman for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, told AFP beforehand, “The ceremony will reflect her identity, with the people who knew and loved her. There will undoubtedly be some surprises, but it will be simple, just as Brigitte wanted.”

Bardot’s death sparked tributes but also more critical assessments of her life. Sandrine Rousseau, a Green Party politician, said: “To be moved by the fate of dolphins and remain indifferent to the deaths of migrants in the Mediterranean, what level of cynicism is this?”