The death of Brigitte Bardot, at the age of 91, was announced by the Foundation that bears her name. Months ago she was struck by an illness and persistent rumors said that since then she had been kept alive with respiratory assistance. According to what the newspaper reported Nice-Matinthe famous actress had been hospitalized at theSaint-Jean private hospital in Toulonin the south of France, where he suffered a «surgery in the context of a serious illness”without however specifying its nature. The state of health of BB, who in the meantime had returned to his home in Saint Tropez, remained however «worrying».
In 1984 she was diagnosed with breast cancer
Brigitte Bardot’s health began to falter in 1984, at the age of 49, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. At first, the actress refused any type of treatment, including chemotherapy, but in the end she accepted radiotherapy thanks to the insistence of my friend and colleague Marina Vlady.
«When I had breast cancer, it was very difficult. I was all alone and I had decided to only have radiotherapy, and not this terrible chemo, so as not to lose my hair. It destroys evil but also good and we emerge annihilated. (…) This illness forced me to face myself. And now, if sometimes I like solitude, I can’t live alone”, explained the icon of French cinema in the columns of Paris Match in 2018.
Once recovered, Brigitte Bardot wanted to keep silent about that difficult period. Reserved about her health conditions, she spoke about it only after her remission: “It remained a secret until the day the illness was behind me”, she confided.
When he broke the silence (without activism)
Brigitte Bardot’s decision to subsequently reveal her breast cancer episode was not born from an intention to raise public awareness, but rather from a personal need for sincerity and reflection. However, the confession had a strong symbolic impact. The French media (Le Pointlink, Public, Paris Match) spoke of a «leçon de courage et de pudeur» («lesson of courage and modesty») and underlined how the star, always icon of freedom and non-conformismhad offered a sober but powerful testimony on human frailty and on inner strength. Many commentators recognized that, even if he had not done so with activist intent, his revelation indirectly contributed to raising public awareness on the topic of breast cancer and the importance of talking about it without it taboo.
That widespread fear of losing hair and the current consequences of chemo
When Bardot discovered the tumor it was the early 1980s: the actress decided to maintain silence because he didn’t want the disease to become object of media curiosity. Also in the interview with Paris Match, thirty years later, B.B. said he had chosen radiotherapy, refusing chemotherapy for fear of losing your hair.
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