Brigitte Bardot rushed to hospital to undergo treatment for 'serious illness'
Bardot was an icon of cinema during the 20th century, making her silver screen debut in the 1952 film, The Girl In The Bikini
Legendary actress and animal rights activist Brigitte Bardot has been rushed to hospital to undergo treatment for a “serious illness.”
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Bardot, 91, has reportedly undergone surgery after being admitted to a south of France hospital three weeks ago.
She had been at her home in Saint-Tropez when she fell ill.
She remains in hospital and is currently recovering from her surgery, local media reports.
Bardot was an icon of cinema during the 20th century, making her silver screen debut in the 1952 film, The Girl In The Bikini.
This catapulted her to international fame - but by 1973, Bardot quit the screen to focus fully on her animal rights charity.
Before that, she would regularly make headlines, perhaps most famously being pictured in a bikini at the Cannes Film Festival in 1953.
For her 40th birthday, she was pictured in Playboy magazine.
The screen icon has been married four times over the years.
She married French director Roger Vadim in 1952, with the pair’s creative and romantic partnership helping launch her film career before their divorce five years later.
Her second marriage, to actor Jacques Charrier in 1959, ended in 1962, shortly after the birth of their son Nicolas.
Bardot went on to wed German photographer Gunter Sachs in 1966, though their glamorous, high-profile union lasted only three years.
Since 1992, she has been married to Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to France’s National Front party.