Brigitte Bardot: her former home in Yvelines
We are in the 1960s when Brigitte Bardot evokes a ” thunderbolt “ for this old sheepfold which she is completely restoring. On the outskirts of Paris, in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne in Yvelines, the actress describes her house as a “a real Noah’s Ark, where I lived in harmony with my animals and my rare friends. »
Brigitte Bardot poses for the lens of photographer and friend Léonard de Raemy at her home in Bazoches-sur-Guyonne. She is filming the show Bardot, As Is produced by journalist Allain Bougrain-Dubourg.© Léonard de Raemy / Sygma via Getty Images
Noah’s Ark by Brigitte Bardot
It is here that Brigitte Bardot takes refuge, far from the objectives and surrounded by her four-legged friends, a joyful menagerie where dogs, horses, goats and sheep coexist. The French icon feeds his farm animals, takes his dogs for walks aboard a boat… The photographs taken by his friend Léonard de Raemy (author of the book Brigitte Bardot Seen By Léonard De Raemy) on the set of the show Bardot, As Is reveal her fulfilled, smiling next to her Noah’s Ark, as she likes to call it. Billiard games in a retro-toned lounge follow country walks.
The report Bardot, As Is was broadcast in three parts on Antenne 2, on December 19 and 26, 1982, then on January 2, 1983. Directed by Catherine Poubeau, the program follows the interview with Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, who is the producer and his companion of the era. Brigitte Bardot talks about her life, discusses La Madrague and her life in Saint-Tropez but also the Brigitte Bardot Foundation. The actress is filmed in the Bazoches property, the 18th century sheepfold that she renovated. In 2006, she transferred the property to her foundation and the house became a refuge of the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
On the set of the show, orchestrated by Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, Brigitte Bardot takes us into her daily life, as close as possible to nature and its animals.© Léonard de Raemy / Sygma via Getty Images
Brigitte Bardot and the animal cause
In 1973, on the set of a television show, Brigitte Bardot challenged Claude Sarraute on the animal condition: “I believe that the love we have within ourselves, we can give to everyone. Quite simply, many people deal with the problem of women, children, the elderly, but no one deals with the incredibly inhumane fate that animals are sometimes subjected to.” She thus announces that she is leading a campaign so that animal suffering is reduced, and returns to the commitments that drive her on a daily basis such as the right to abortion and the elderly – Brigitte Bardot then takes care of elderly ladies whom she considers “like grandmothers”. Her commitment to the animal cause continues, since in 1988, she bought the animals from the Vendeuil zoo whose owner was bankrupt. These vintage photographs immortalize a BB free and joyful, in her house in Yvelines. The actress also lived in a Parisian apartment in the La Muette district with Günter Sachs and in Saint-Tropez, La Madrague having become an emblematic address of her life in Saint-Tropez.
