Brigitte Bardot: a look back at her 4 marriages and her great romances

Brigitte Bardot passed away this Sunday, December 28, 2025, at the age of 91. An icon of French cinema, a symbol of female emancipation and a tireless campaigner for the animal cause, BB also marked her era with a love life of rare intensity: 4 marriages and, by her own admission,17 passionate relationships.

“I was always looking for passion. That’s why I was often unfaithful. And when the passion came to an end, I packed my suitcase”, confided Brigitte Bardot. This constant quest for the intensity of love led to tumultuous relationships with some of the biggest names in cinema and song.

Brigitte Bardot’s four marriages

Roger Vadim (1952-1957): the Pygmalion

It was in 1949, at an audition, that Brigitte, then aged 14, met Roger Vadim, a young assistant director. She found him “sublimely beautiful”, but couldn’t imagine him falling in love with her. On December 21, 1952, at Notre-Dame-de-Grâce church in Passy (Paris 16th), they married. She was just 18 years old.

Vadim became her mentor, directing her in Et Dieu… créa la femme (1956), the film that catapulted her to worldwide icon status. But on the same set, Brigitte fell under the spell of her partner Jean-Louis Trintignant. Her marriage to Vadim ended in 1957, but they remained on good terms until the director’s death in 2000.

Jacques Charrier (1959-1963): the father of his only son

On the set of Babette s’en va-t-en guerre, Brigitte met the young actor Jacques Charrier. They married on June 18, 1959. The couple’s only child, Nicolas, was born on January 11, 1960.

The relationship between the couple deteriorated rapidly. Jacques Charrier suffered from depression, while Brigitte, suffering from the baby blues, began an affair with Sami Frey during the filming of La Vérité. The couple divorced on January 30, 1963. Nicolas was raised by his father. Jacques Charrier died in September 2025, a few months before his ex-wife.

Gunter Sachs (1966-1969): the flamboyant billionaire

The summer of 1966 marked the arrival on the scene of Gunter Sachs, German photographer and billionaire industrialist. To win over BB, he had thousands of roses dropped from a helicopter over his property in Saint-Tropez – an extravagant gesture in keeping with his image.

On July 14 1966, they married in Las Vegas. During the marriage, Brigitte had a passionate affair with Serge Gainsbourg, who wrote some unforgettable songs for her. Their divorce was finalized on October 1, 1969, with no hard feelings. Gunter Sachs died in 2011.

Bernard d’Ormale (1992-2025): the anchor of maturity

n June 1992, at a dinner party in Saint-Tropez, Brigitte Bardot, then aged 57, met Bernard d’Ormale, an industrialist and former political advisor. It was love at first sight. Two months later, on August 16, 1992, they celebrated their union in Norway.

This fourth marriage was to be their last, and by far their longest: over 30 years together at La Madrague, their Saint-Tropez estate.

“He will be my husband for the rest of my life”, she said. Bernard d’Ormale, now 83, accompanied her in her fight for the animal cause and watched over her to the end.

The great affairs that marked his life

Jean-Louis Trintignant: absolute love

It was on the set of Et Dieu… créa la femme in 1956 that this consuming passion was born. Trintignant left his wife Stéphane Audran to live with Brigitte. Their affair, though intense, lasted just one year. “Jean-Louis and Sami were, I believe, the greatest loves of my life, the most important, the most profound, the most irreplaceable,” she would later confide.

Sami Frey: intellectual passion

Sami Frey met Brigitte on the set of Henri-Georges Clouzot’s La Vérité in 1960, and embodied a deep love for her that would last two years. She places him alongside Trintignant in her sentimental pantheon. “To keep friendship after experiencing passion would be a kind of alms that wouldn’t suit me. I’m too whole.”

Serge Gainsbourg: artistic alchemy

Their affair from 1967-1968, though brief – just three months – was to leave an indelible mark on the history of French chanson. Gainsbourg wrote Harley Davidson, Bonnie & Clyde, Comic Strip and the first version of Je t’aime, moi non plus for her, which was not commercialized at the time because Gunter Sachs objected.

Gilbert Bécaud, Sacha Distel and others

Gilbert Bécaud, Sacha Distel and many others crossed paths with this woman, who asserted her freedom in love at a time when this was uncommon.

A heart in perpetual search of passion

Through her love affairs, Brigitte Bardot embodied a new form of feminine freedom for her era. A symbol of emancipation and passion, she never shied away from her choices, embracing both love at first sight and break-ups.

If she finally found a certain serenity with Bernard d’Ormale, it’s perhaps because her true passion had shifted to the animal cause: “Never has the love of a man given me the desire to go on living. It’s the distress of animals that drives me and makes me want to fight, to carry on.”