After actress Catherine Deneuve, French film legend Brigitte Bardot has attacked the #MeToo movement to call out sexual harassment, which was popularised in the wake of sexual harassment allegations against producer Harvey Weinstein and other Hollywood personalities. In an interview to the French magazine Paris Match, Bardot said that actresses who complained of sexual harassment were just looking for publicity. She said the “vast majority of cases” are “hypocritical, ridiculous, without interest”.
“Lots of actresses try to play the tease with producers to get a role. And then, when we talk about them, they say they were harassed,” she said. “I was never the victim of sexual harassment. And I found it charming when men told me that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside.”
Bardot rose to fame as an international sex symbol in 1956 after starring in Roger Vadim’s And God Created Woman. After appearing in 47 films and recording more than 60 songs, Bardot retired from the entertainment industry in 1973. Since then, she has been campaigning for animal rights. She founded the Brigitte Bardot Foundation for the Welfare and Protection of Animals in 1986.
A supporter of France’s far-right political party National Front, Bardot has repeatedly taken anti-immigration and anti-Islam positions. She has been fined five times on charges of inciting religious hatred.
Earlier this month, Deneuve, along with prominent French actresses, academics and writers, signed an open letter in the French newspaper Le Monde criticising “witch hunt” that has begun against men in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal.
Deneuve later apologised to victims of sexual assault and harassment who were hurt by comments but maintained that she did not agree with aspects of the #MeToo movement.
