Cinema VinesOn Monday, the Millon auction house in Paris hosted a sale of Brigitte Bardot’s personal belongings that raised almost one million euros—nearly twenty times the initial estimate. The event, featuring 285 items ranging from straw hats and sunglasses to nightgowns, tableware and furniture from Bardot’s Saint‑Tropez homes La Madrague and La Garrigue and her Paris apartment, drew intense interest from bidders worldwide.
The proceeds will benefit the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which the actress established in 1986 to rescue animals, and will also be shared with her only child, Nicolas‑Jacques Charrier. The foundation reports having cared for 13,000 animals across four shelters and 150 partner facilities, supporting 350 groups in France and operating in 70 countries.
Among the most striking sales were two dog collars bearing Bardot’s name and a phone number for La Madrague, which sold for €9,400 to a Russian buyer despite an estimated €30. A self‑portrait fetched nearly €40,000, and her typewriter used to write her autobiography sold for €4,634. Two guitars, originally valued between €300 and €500, commanded €8,600 and €11,900, while three stuffed seal toys sold for almost €2,200.
“Brigitte Bardot has once again proved to be a remarkable alchemist: she transformed about €50,000 in estimates into nearly a million euros including fees,” auctioneer Alexandre Millon said. Managing director Ghyslaine Calmels of the Bardot Foundation described the sale as a continuation of the 1987 auction that founded the charity, adding that the auction “continues her fight.”
The auction was not without controversy. Two days before the event, Bernard d’Ormale, Bardot’s last husband, criticized it as a “joke,” claiming it disrespected the actress’s memory and that she would not have approved such a sale. The foundation replied that the auction had received board approval in June, including d’Ormale’s then‑role as president, and that the sale was intended to support the animal welfare work Bardot championed. The dispute follows d’Ormale’s recent removal as head of the foundation, a position he had held since Bardot’s death in December at age 91.
