Brigitte Bardot was reportedly taken to hospital for a mysterious illness and underwent surgery.
Citing French media, the Daily Mail reported on Thursday that the 91-year-old actress was staying at her home in Saint-Tropez when she fell ill with a “serious illness” about three weeks ago.
She was reportedly taken to a hospital in Toulon, where she underwent unspecified surgery and is currently recovering.
The newspaper said Bardot’s condition was being monitored by doctors.
Her representative did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Bargot was previously rushed to hospital in July 2023 due to breathing problems.
“It was around 9 a.m. that Brigitte started having trouble breathing,” her husband Bernard Dolmare told local media at the time.
“[Her breathing]was stronger than usual, but she didn’t lose consciousness. Let’s call this a respiratory distraction moment.”
When first responders arrived, Domare, 84, said he put his wife on oxygen and “stayed and watched over her” for a while.
“Like people of a certain age, she could no longer bear the heat,” he lamented. “This is what happens when you’re 88 years old. You shouldn’t waste your efforts.”
A former sex symbol, many know her as one of the most popular actresses of the 50s and 60s. However, she left the spotlight in 1973, just before her 40th birthday. The reason was that he felt “devastated” by his celebrity status, which he described as a “nightmare”.
James Clarke, author of Being Bardot, elaborated on the reason in 2023, saying, “There was fatigue, not only from the pace of work, but also from the endless subject matter of camera lenses, whether it be still camera lenses or movie lenses.”
In 1987, Bardot auctioned off one-fifth of his personal property, including precious jewelry, art, and clothing, raising $500,000.
“I gave my beauty and youth to men,” she said at the time. “And now I’m giving all my wisdom and experience to animals.”
Since then, the activist has dedicated his life to animal protection and advocacy, becoming a controversial figure in the process.
In 2019, she was fined for inciting racial hatred after describing residents of Reunion Island in the French Indian Ocean as “depraved savages.”
“The natives have left behind a savage gene,” she wrote in an open letter to the governor of Réunion at the time, alleging that islanders mistreated animals.
This is the sixth conviction for the woman, who has previously made Islamophobic comments targeting the island’s Hindu Tamil population. She also criticized the Islamic festival Eid el-Kebir in a letter to then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in 2006.
