It's much more than just a house, it's a real refuge for Brigitte Bardot. For the former cinema icon, it is even the place of a life. This is where she has lived since 1958, where she works, where she set up her animal foundation, where she lives far from the media and where she feels good. La Madrague is inseparable from BB, just as BB is from La Madrague. This residence in Saint-Tropez to which she even dedicated a song with lyrics that have become legendary.
This fisherman's house in the small southern town caught his eye two years after the triumph of And God… created woman. The then-24-year-old actress listened to her parents, who owned La Saravia in Saint-Tropez, visit this villa “feet in the water”. And love at first sight was immediate and for 24 million old francs, Brigitte Bardot became the owner. From this workers' villa, she made an exceptional house that she took years to shape.
BB likes “rustic houses”
“La Madrague suffers from a certain dilapidation, without running water, only a dry well in summer. We wash dishes there and wash with sea water…”recounted Yves Bigot in Brigitte Bardot: the most beautiful and scandalous woman in the world. He then recounted the first years that BB spent there. “She cooks there simple and fragrant and serves at the table herself, her back draped in a small-checked apron that taunts the designers. Naked in the sun, no luxury brands, no jewelry, no furs“, he said.
“I love rustic houses, I love houses that are comfortable, but not luxurious. That's it, I don't like luxury, the splash of luxury”she said decades ago. According to the JDD, BB's house remained simple :
“royal blue canvas blinds”, “rendered walls”, “swimming pool hidden behind a low wall”. And lush nature. Reeds, bougainvillea, myrtles, arbutus trees… And lots of animals. Cats, dogs of course but also birds which nest in his dovecote.
The estate is made up of three houses, the main one, one for friends and one for the caretaker. But this dream house is also Brigitte Bardot's nightmare. Because over the years, Saint-Tropez has become the refuge of the ultra-rich and tourists, many of whom approach La Madrague. No matter, to protect his privacy, BB has everything planned. Even if she would prefer to no longer be the star of the 7th art who capsized several generations.
This is where Brigitte Bardot wants to be buried
Always in love with her home, this is where she will rest. “I chose a little corner near the sea, which was approved by the authorities. I prefer to rest there than in the cemetery of Saint-Tropez, where a crowd of assholes would risk damaging my parents' tomb and my grandparents. I want them to be left alone.”she confided with her usual frankness. When he dies, people will finally be able to enter his sanctuary.
Because Brigitte Bardot plans to make La Madrague a museum. “For two or three euros, which will fund the foundation's coffers, the public will be able to visit my fishermen's house which will be left in its original state,
she wrote her book Tears of Combat. (…). My interior and my way of living will be presented to the eyes of the curious. But for once, the idolatry to which I have been the object during my existence will finally be justified, because it will be for a good cause.
