Brigitte Bardot Recovering After Hospitalization for Surgery, Illness

Legendary French actress Brigitte Bardot revealed Friday that she is currently recovering following a hospitalization for a minor surgery and “serious illness.”

The 91-year-old Bardot did not elaborate on the nature of the illness or the surgery — French newspaper Var-Matin called her medical situation “worrying” — but her press office told French news agency AFP (via Reuters) that the actress has since returned to her Saint-Tropez, France home following the three-week hospitalization.

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Bardot also thanked the staff and the surgical team at the Saint-Jean Private Hospital in Toulon.

An internationally known sex symbol and pop culture icon in the Fifties and Sixties, Bardot starred in films like And God Created Woman and Jean-Luc Godard’s Contempt in addition to a singing career that boasted several hit singles, including her Serge Gainsbourg collaboration “Bonnie and Clyde.”

However, Bardot retired from acting in 1973 and never returned to the big screen. In the half-century that followed, Bardot dedicated herself to animal rights through her Brigette Bardot Foundation.

While she has largely kept a low profile in retirement, Bardot has found herself making headlines in recent decades for her controversial public stance on immigration, Muslims, and the #MeToo movement, which she called “hypocritical, ridiculous and uninteresting.”

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