Brigitte Bardot Foundation issues warning about scam memorabilia

The charity Brigitte Bardot established has issued a warning about “scam” merchandise purporting to fund its work following the French actress’s death.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation said it was aware of “crude fabrications” being advertised online alongside claims the proceeds will go to the animal welfare charity.

It threatened to take legal action against anyone taking part in “these alleged illegal fundraising efforts”, stating: “Everyone is asked to respect the memory of the deceased.”

Bardot died aged 91 last Sunday. After revolutionising 1950s French cinema and becoming a symbol of sexual liberation, she quit acting to devote her life to animals.

But the actress-turned-activist courted controversy later in life over a string of remarks about Muslims, gay people and the #MeToo movement. She was fined five times for inciting racial hatred.

Her death prompted tributes in France, with President Emmanuel Macron saying the nation was mourning “a legend of the century”.

“Her films, her voice, her dazzling glory, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne, Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom,” he said.

But now, online scammers were co-opting her iconic image for “vulgar and despicable attempts to exploit her legacy”, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation said.

It warned of “the spread on the internet and social networks of offers for sale of photographs, AI-assisted montages, and all kinds of media” reproducing her image, including “in fabricated situations”.

“These are crude fabrications, illicit offers and sales, and purported fundraising campaigns that have never received any endorsement from the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which cannot condone these scams,” it wrote in a statement on Saturday.

Bardot starred in nearly 50 films including And God Created Woman and Contempt, setting fashion trends with her tousled blonde hair and bold eyeliner, before becoming the model for Marianne, the personified symbol of France.

She retired from acting in 1973, aged 39, declaring: “I gave my youth and beauty to men, I give my wisdom and experience to animals.” Bardot would go on to launch her animal rights foundation 13 years later.

Her funeral will take place on Wednesday in Saint-Tropez, southern France, where she lived for decades, in a cemetery overlooking her home and the Mediterranean.

The Brigitte Bardot Foundation told French news agency AFP that the private burial will be “no frills” and “without fuss”, in keeping with her spirit.