Brigitte Bardot says #MeToo movement is “hypocritical” and “uninteresting”

French star joins Catherine Deneuve in #MeToo backlash

French icon Brigitte Bardot has accused the female stars that have spoken out as part of the #MeToo movement of being “hypocritical”, saying that she used to find “compliments” from men to be “charming”.

Speaking to French magazine Paris Match, Bardot, 83, said: “In the vast majority of cases they are being hypocritical, ridiculous, uninteresting. There are many actresses who flirt with producers in order to get a role.”

She added: “Then, in order to be talked about, they will say they have been harassed. In reality, rather than benefiting them, it harms them.”

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“Me, I was never the victim of sexual harassment and I found it charming when I was told that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside,” Bardot continued. “This kind of compliment is nice.”

Bardot’s comments come after fellow French star Catherine Deneuve apologised to victims of sexual assault who were ‘offended’ over her decision to sign an open letter that denounces the #MeToo movement.

Catherine Deneuve
Catherine Deneuve

The letter – which was also signed by a number of French writers, performers and academics – warned of a new “puritanism” as a result of the recent surge of sexual harassment scandals, suggesting: “Rape is a crime. But trying to seduce someone, even persistently or clumsily, is not – and nor is men being gentlemanly a chauvinist attack.”

But while Deneuve maintains that “nothing in the letter” warranted the subsequent backlash, she has apologised to victims of sexual assault who may have been offended by it.

“I warmly greet all the victims of these hideous acts who might have felt offended by that letter which appeared in Le Monde. It is to them and them alone that I offer my apologies”, she said in a letter on the website of newspaper Liberation.

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“I love freedom”, she later added. “I don’t like this characteristic of our era where everyone feels they have the right … to condemn. An era where simple denunciations on social networks cause punishment, resignation, and … often media lynching”.

  • For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit thRape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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