The death of French film icon and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot at the age of 91 has cast a renewed spotlight on her famously complex and strained relationship with her only child. Bardot passed away on Sunday, leaving behind her 65-year-old son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, with whom she shared a difficult history marked by public remarks about motherhood and a subsequent legal battle.
A Mother's Public Admission and a Son's Privacy
In the final years of her life, Bardot appeared to adopt a more conciliatory tone regarding her son. In a significant shift, she revealed in a June 2024 interview with Paris Match that she had made a specific vow to Nicolas. "I promised Nicolas I would never talk about him in my interviews," the actress stated, indicating a move towards respecting his privacy after decades of public scrutiny.
This promise stood in stark contrast to her earlier, highly publicised comments. The rift was cemented for many by the publication of her controversial 1996 memoir, Initiales B.B.. In the book, Bardot wrote candidly about her motherhood, stating, "I'm not made to be a mother... I'm not adult enough to take care of a child." She disclosed that she had sought an abortion but was unable to obtain one as the procedure was illegal in France at the time.
Controversial Remarks and Legal Repercussions
The public discord reached its peak when, at a press conference promoting the memoir, Bardot was asked about her son. Her response sparked immediate backlash: she said she would have "preferred to give birth to a little dog." These remarks, alongside the content of her book, led Charrier and his father, Bardot's second husband Jacques Charrier, to sue her for invasion of privacy. The court ruled in their favour, ordering Bardot to pay approximately $40,000 in fines.
Nicolas-Jacques Charrier was born in 1960 during Bardot's marriage to Jacques Charrier. Following their divorce in 1962, he was raised by his paternal grandparents. As an adult, he deliberately stepped away from the public eye, settling in Norway with his wife, Norwegian model Anne-Line Bjerkan, where they raised their own family.
A Civil Distance in Later Years
Despite the painful history, the relationship between mother and son evolved into one of civil, if distant, connection in her later years. Bardot married her fourth husband, Bernard d'Ormale, in Norway in 1992, not far from where Nicolas lived. In a 2018 interview with Var Matin, Bardot noted that they maintained contact, visiting each other about once a year.
Bardot's death comes months after she was hospitalised for a serious illness. Her passing closes the chapter on the life of a global icon, but ensures the poignant and complicated story of her motherhood will remain a part of her enduring legacy.
