Funeral held for French movie and style icon Brigitte Bardot | World News

Brigitte Bardot’s funeral is being held with a private service in Saint-Tropez.

The French movie and style icon died on 28 December at the age of 91 at her home in the French Riviera resort, where she lived for more than half a century.

Her husband, Bernard d’Ormale, revealed in an interview with Paris Match magazine that she had died from cancer after undergoing two operations.

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Celebrated and controversial: Brigitte Bardot remembered

Crowds have gathered along the streets to see the late film star’s coffin arriving at the Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption Catholic Church.

The service is being attended by family and guests, which include French far-right leader Marine Le Pen, who was pictured arriving at the service.

Guests also included people invited to the funeral by the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the protection of animals.

Hundreds of people gathered in the small town to follow the farewell on large screens set up at the port and on two plazas.

After the church service, Bardot is to be buried “in the strictest privacy” at a cemetery overlooking the Mediterranean Sea, according to the Saint-Tropez town hall.

A public homage will also be held at a nearby site in Saint-Tropez.

In his interview released on Tuesday evening, her husband said the film legend had been “conscious and concerned about the fate of animals until the very end”.

Bardot’s renowned sex symbol status was set in stone in 1956 with her portrayal of a rebellious teenager in And God Created Woman.

Directed by her then-husband Roger Vadim and in line with the sexual liberation of the age, the movie featured Bardot dancing naked on tables, captivating audiences and scandalising censors in equal measure.

She became a global icon and starred in more than 40 films.

But she turned away from public life in 1973, aged 39, and gave her attention to animal rights, calling it her “only battle”.