BIOGRAPHY AND PERSONALITY OF A FAMOUS LIBRA: BRIGITTE BARDOT

French film actress Brigitte Bardot was convicted Tuesday (June 3, 2008) for inciting hatred against Muslims. 

A Paris court also handed down a $23,325 fine against the former screen icon and animal rights campaigner.  She also has to pay $1,555 in damages to the French anti-racism group MRAP.

Bardot outraged anti-racist groups when, in December 2006, she wrote to France’s then interior minister, current President Nicolas Sarkozy, arguing that Muslims should stun animals before slaughtering them during the Aid al-Kabir holiday.

"I've had enough of being led by the nose by this whole population which is destroying us, (and) destroying our country by imposing their ways," Bardot wrote.

French anti-racism laws prevent inciting hatred and discrimination on racial or religious or racial grounds.  She’s been convicted four times previously for inciting racial hatred.

Bardot, now suffering from arthritis, was absent from the June 3 court hearing.  She wrote to the court: "I'm sickened by how (these organizations) are harassing me."

She added: "I will not shut up until stunning is carried out" on animals before their ritual slaughter.

Brigitte Anne-Marie Bardot was born Sept. 28, 1934, in Paris.  She was discovered by Roger Vadim when she appeared on a magazine cover at 15.  She married Vadim and made her film debut in 1952.

Vadim crafted her “sex kitten” image for his films And God Created Woman (1956) and The Night Heaven Fell (1958), which set box-office records and made her an international star.

She displayed her acting ability in such films as The Truth (1960), Contempt (1963), and Viva Maria! (1965). An animal rights activist, she established an animal welfare organization in 1987.

Two years after divorcing Vadim in 1957, Bardot married actor Jacques Charrier, by whom she had a son, her only child.  The couple divorced in 1962.  Bardot was married to Germany millionaire playboy Gunter Sachs in 1966, divorcing three years later.  And 1992, she married to Bernard d’Ormale.

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