French actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot leaves the Elysee Palace in Paris on Sept. 27, 2007, after a meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Bardot will turn 90 on Sept. 28, 2024. (Photo by Eric Feferberg / AFP)
PARIS — Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s French cinema icon who left the silver screen behind her a half-century ago, says as her 90th birthday approaches that she now “flees humanity” in favor of “silent solitude.”
Dedicating most of her time to animal rights activism through her foundation, Bardot still regularly makes headlines, including with statements of support for France’s far right.
She told AFP in a telephone interview from her home in Saint-Tropez that she hopes to see a ban on eating horse meat in her home country before she dies.
Q: Saturday September 28 is a special day, you’ll be celebrating your 90th birthday…
A: “That’s kind of you, but I’m fed up with this birthday! I’ve had enough of it, because it’s harassing, people are asking things of me from all sides. Luckily I don’t turn 90 every day!”
Q: A lot of people are thinking of you!
A: “That’s lovely, but after a while there’s no end to it! I’ve been saying to myself for some time that I’d rather be turning 20.”
Q: If you were 20, we’d see you in the cinema again.
A: “No, that’s all finished with! I’m very happy to have reached such a venerable age!”
Q: What does that age feel like to you?
A: “I really don’t think about it. Every day is the same to me… it comes just as easily as before… I watch the time pass and I think I’m doing very well!”
Q: What has you doing well?
A: “I’d sooner say what’s got me doing badly… For example, animals don’t have it easy every day, things aren’t getting better. What does me good is my way of seeing life, being interested in nature, fleeing humanity. I flee humanity and I have a silent solitude that’s just right for me.”
Q: What would be the nicest birthday present for you?
A: “The nicest present I could have been given, after 50 years of begging governments, different presidents, would be the abolition of eating horses. When I gave up cinema it was the first thing I asked for. For us not to keep killing and eating horses in France. And look, I haven’t got anything! That would have been a wonderful present for me.”
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Q: Do you think you’ll see a ban in your lifetime?
A: “I’ve been shouting for 50 years and haven’t got anything. I don’t have time to wait another 50 years.”
Q: Are you disappointed by politics?
A: “I’m disappointed that no-one has at least had the idea of doing something. It’s been swept under the carpet… I would have liked to achieve a result before leaving you all for good. I deserve it!”
Q: The French public’s view of animals is changing…
A: “Among the public, it’s marvelous. They’ve got it, they’ve supported me. They’re wonderful. They write me letters that do me such good. I can’t thank them enough for the courage they’ve lent me.”
Q: For them, you’re still the cinema icon of the 1960s. What do you remember from that time?
A: “I turned that page more than 50 years ago. I’m very proud of the first chapter in my life, which I made a success of and now grants me the global fame that helps me a lot with protecting animals.”
Q: Would you choose the same career if you had to do it all over again?
A: “I don’t ask myself questions! There are more interesting things in life, and once it’s done, it’s done.”
Q: Aren’t you worried about what comes next?
A: “I live from day to day and I’m doing very well like that. I take things as they come.”
Q: Is being very old the way you imagined it?
A: “I couldn’t care less about age! I didn’t even notice it coming. It’s not here.”
Q: Do you have anything to say about Paul Watson, the anti-whaling activist held in Greenland?
A: “It’s a very serious problem that pains me greatly. A flagrant injustice is being inflicted on him! Norway, Iceland and Japan are contravening the moratorium (on whale fishing) that was signed by the whole world. And Paul Watson is the one accused of a crime! It’s unbelievable.”