Wendy Bouchard tells Brigitte Bardot and gives the floor to two of his life and combat companions: Allain Bougrain-Dubourg, president of the LPO, and Christophe Marie who spent 30 years at the Brigitte-Bardot Foundation.
“Brigitte Bardot celebrates her 90th birthday tomorrow, she has a holy horror of her birthday, especially as the years go by… 20 years ago, I was a journalism student at Var Matin St Tropez and thanks to a message that I send her, she is touched, she invites me to toast with champagne with my feet in the water, on the beachcorner at Roger’s, his restaurateur friend, in a very small group…”, remembers Wendy Bouchard.
“For the first time, I meet ‘BB’ like her with her wild hairstyle, but she is called Brigitte and her simplicity is disconcerting. It is this woman that I would like to tell you about, the one I call from time to time to another for 20 years, who welcomed me into her home, and who always says sweet words to me”, adds Wendy Bouchard.
Messages by the hundred… for his 90th birthday
“Telling Brigitte is first of all knowing what she is going through at the moment, the phone calls that bombard her for her 90th birthday, more than 200 letters received every day, which reach her from all over the world and that ‘she works to open… alone, out of duty, she responds to all the messages that call for a return. And we can only admire this part-time work.’
“Her round writing is cajoling. She draws with a felt-tip pen, to the right of her signature, a large ‘daisy’, a tribute to Brassens whose song she did not dare to perform, because only Brassens can sing Brassens known as BB”, explains Wendy Bouchard. “As I speak to you, moreover, her guardian has taken Brigitte Bardot by car, her favorite white 4L, from Madraguewhere she lives, by the sea, up to La Garrigue where she works, in the heights of St Tropez… His office is nestled in a small, rustic and adorable hut, with red gingham curtains.”
A life between freedom and confinement
“It is surrounded by animals: a free-roaming pony, a few dogs and cats, more adopted ones. At the entrance, a few farm animals frolic in a large enclosure and as you walk through the garden, a few steps take you lead to an adorable little chapel of Notre Dame de la Garrigue, where she meditates surrounded by photos of her missing animals. But what God does she pray to, she who is panicked by the brutality of men? Bardot is freedom and confinement. She chose this withdrawal 20 years ago. She flees humanity and retreats into silence while remaining perfectly informed. she assumes an obvious protection also after her celebrity has been a prison…”.
