Brigitte Bardot’s Dating History: From Roger Vadim to Bernard d’Ormale

Brigitte Bardot was a famous face in the 1950s and 1960s, known for her beauty and charm. She started her career as a model, singer, and actress, grabbing attention at just 15 when she appeared on the cover of Elle magazine. Bardot became an international sex symbol and later shifted her focus to animal activism after retiring from showbiz in 1973.

However, Bardot’s later years were marked by controversy. In 1996, she released a memoir expressing support for far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, which drew criticism. She faced legal trouble multiple times for making racially charged comments in articles and interviews, including a fine for anti-Muslim remarks in 2008.

Bardot’s personal life has also been eventful. She’s had four marriages, currently wed to Bernard d’Ormale since 1992, and is a mother to one son from her second marriage, with whom she has a strained relationship. Despite her fame, Bardot values privacy, with her first husband noting her preference for simplicity and love for animals over the glitz of Hollywood.

Throughout her life, Bardot’s affection for animals has been evident, stemming from a childhood lacking parental affection. She once prioritized a dog over jewels, finding solace in the innocence and honesty of animals amidst the trappings of fame and success.

Roger Vadim

Bardot met French director Roger Vadim when she was 16 and he was 22. They got married on December 21, 1952, just three months after her 18th birthday.

Vadim directed Bardot in his first film, And God Created Woman, in 1956. It was during this time on set that Bardot started a relationship with her co-star, Jean-Louis Trintignant, who was also an actor. Bardot and Vadim parted ways in a friendly manner and divorced in April 1957.

“I knew what was going on and kind of expected it,” Vadim later commented, as reported by the Sydney Morning Herald. “I’d rather have a wife like that, knowing she’s not faithful to me, than have a woman who only loves me and no one else… I wanted a woman with spirit, with a zest for life… a woman who’s adventurous and sexually curious.”

Vadim later married Jane Fonda, and they had a daughter named Vanessa Vadim together.

Jean-Louis Trintignant

Bardot and French actor Jean-Louis Trintignant got involved while working together on Bardot’s debut film, And God Created Woman. This affair became famous for breaking up Bardot’s marriage to Vadim and Trintignant’s marriage to Stéphane Audran.

According to the biography Brigitte Bardot: The Life, the Legend, the Movies, written by Ginette Vincendeau, Bardot and Trintignant lived together for two years before calling it quits.

Jacques Charrier

Bardot tied the knot with actor Jacques Charrier in Louveciennes, France, on June 18, 1959, as reported by the New York Times. Charrier was her co-star in Babette Goes to War.

Their son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, was born in January 1960, but Bardot wasn’t thrilled about becoming a mom. In her memoir Initiales B. B: Mémoires, she described feeling like she was saying goodbye to a dear friend when she looked at her pregnant belly, even comparing her unborn son to a “cancerous tumor” she wanted to get rid of by punching herself in the stomach.

After three years of marriage, Bardot and Charrier divorced, and he gained custody of Nicolas. Bardot admitted in her writing that she didn’t feel capable of being a mother, feeling too immature to handle the responsibility.

In 1997, Charrier and Nicolas took legal action against Bardot and her publisher for the hurtful comments in her memoir, including her preference for giving birth to a dog and her negative portrayal of Charrier. They were awarded $36,200 in damages by the court, according to reports from the Irish Times and The Independent.

Gunter Sachs

According to The Telegraph, Bardot crossed paths with German millionaire Gunter Sachs in Saint Tropez in May 1966.

“I thought he was amazing,” Bardot wrote in her memoir. “I was captivated… and he even had the same Rolls Royce as me!” Bardot recounted that the next day, Sachs arranged for a helicopter to fly over her home, showering it with thousands of roses.

Bardot and Sachs tied the knot just two months later in Las Vegas. However, their honeymoon phase didn’t last long. Bardot reportedly began an affair with singer Mike Sarne shortly after returning home.

Despite the infidelity, Bardot and Sachs parted ways amicably in 1969. They remained friendly, with Sachs even saying, “A year with Bardot was worth 10 with anyone else.”

Serge Gainsbourg

While still married to Sachs, Bardot went on a date with French singer Serge Gainsbourg. According to The Guardian, she insisted that he write her a love song.

Gainsbourg penned two songs, both of which became famous: “Bonnie et Clyde” and “Je T’aime … Moi Non Plus.” During the recording of the latter, Gainsbourg and Bardot were reportedly engaged in intimate behavior in the studio, which was captured on tape by the sound engineer. However, Bardot requested to shelve the song after Sachs found out about it. Instead, Gainsbourg re-recorded it with his new girlfriend, Jane Birkin, and it soared to number one in the UK.

Bardot eventually released her own version of the recording in 1986, after her split from Sachs.

Bernard d’Ormale

Bardot’s fourth marriage has turned out to be her longest, despite the shortest courtship. She and businessman Bernard d’Ormale met in July 1992 and tied the knot in August of the same year.

According to d’Ormale, their relationship motivated Bardot to reconcile with her estranged son. “Just two weeks after we met,” d’Ormale shared with PEOPLE in 1992, “Brigitte called Nicolas because she wanted him to meet me, and we agreed to visit him in Norway. Right before we left, she suggested, ‘Why don’t we get married while we’re there?’ So we did. But quietly. I’m not one for the spotlight. Only our close friends knew.”

D’Ormale used to advise Jean-Marie Le Pen, the former leader of the far-right party National Front. Bardot herself has become a vocal supporter of the party, now known as National Rally, endorsing its former leader Marine Le Pen and hailing her as “the Joan of Arc of the 21st century.”

In July 2023, emergency services were summoned to Bardot’s residence in France when she experienced breathing issues. However, d’Ormale reportedly assured a local French newspaper, Var Martin, that his wife was improving and attributed her discomfort to the high temperature.

“Like many people her age, she struggles with the heat,” he stated, according to Deadline.