BREAKING: Brigitte Bardot Hospitalized for 3 Weeks After Emergency Surgery — “A Serious Condition,” Sources Say 😢

Bardot has shifted her focus to animal advocacy since leaving acting behind

Publicity portrait of French actress Brigitte Bardot, 1963; Brigitte Bardot Invited For A Meeting On The Environment With French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Brigitte Bardot in 1963 (left), and in 2007.Credit : 

John Kisch Archive/Getty; Gilles BASSIGNAC/Gamma-Rapho via Getty

Brigitte Bardot is struggling with her health at 91.

Per French newspaper Var-Matin, the actress, who has kept a more private life in recent years, has been hospitalized in Toulon, France, for nearly three weeks. Bardot reportedly underwent surgery at a private hospital there “as part of a serious illness,” per the outlet.

While sources told the outlet the actress’s condition is “worrying,” they also indicated she is expected to be released and return to her home in St. Tropez in the coming days.

Representatives for Bardot have not yet responded to PEOPLE’s request for a comment on the actress’s condition.Brigitte Bardot - 1959

Brigitte Bardot in 1959.  Sam Levin/Regie Du Film/Del Duca/Kobal/Shutterstock

The last update on Bardot’s health came in 2023, when her husband, Bernard d’Ormale, told a local outlet he’d sought medical attention for the actress after she experienced distress breathing during a heat wave in the country, per the Los Angeles Times.

The actress and singer started her career as a model, appearing on the cover of Elle in 1950 at the age of 15. The opportunity presented an offer to act in director Marc Allégret’s film Les Lauriers sont coupés.

By 1952, Bardot’s acting career was well underway. That year, she starred in Crazy for Love, followed by 1953’s Manila, the Girl in the Bikini, as well as The Long Teeth and His Father’s Portrait.

Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg on the set of "Speciale Bardot"
Brigitte Bardot and Serge Gainsbourg on the set of “Speciale Bardot” in 1968.Henri Bureau/Sygma/Corbis/VCG/Getty

Throughout the 50s and 60s, Bardot would go on to become an international star and was seen as a sex symbol of her time. While she enjoyed great success, she has also struggled with her mental health. Bardot spoke about struggling with fame in a 2010 interview with FRANCE magazine, saying, “I have really been on the verge of suicide several times — it’s a miracle that I am still alive.”

She continued acting throughout the ’60s and ’70s, starring in her first Hollywood film, Dear Brigitte, in 1965 opposite James Stewart.

Since retiring from acting, Bardot’s focus has become animal rights. Through the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, created in 1986, a French NGO whose mission is the protection of wild and domestic animals, she has dedicated herself to pursuing animal rights.

Brigitte Bardot wearing a white evening dress at the Plaza Hotel; circa 1970; New York
Brigitte Bardot in 1970.Art Zelin/Getty

Bardot’s viewpoints on issues of the day have landed her in controversy. The former screen siren was fined nearly $25,000 in 2008 after being convicted of provoking discrimination and racial hatred for writing that Muslims are destroying her country. The court in Paris also ordered Bardot, 73, to pay $1,555 in damages to a leading French anti-racism group known as MRAP.

In 2018, Bardot spoke out against the #MeToo movement, calling women who have exposed sexual harassment in Hollywood “hypocritical, ridiculous and uninteresting.”

Brigitte Bardot visits her dog refuge "The Nice Dogs" of Carnoules on October 7, 2001 in Paris, France
Brigitte Bardot in 2001.Charly Hel/Prestige/Getty

In an interview with French magazine Paris Match, Bardot said women are only harming themselves by speaking out against sexual harassment.

“Many actresses flirt with producers to get a role. Then when they tell the story afterward, they say they have been harassed,” she said, according to The Guardian. “In actual fact, rather than benefit them, it only harms them. The vast majority are being hypocritical and ridiculous.”