Brigitte Bardot releases tell-all autobiography

September 24, 1996
Web posted at: 10:30 p.m. EDT

PARIS (CNN) -- Before Sharon Stone or Pamela Lee arrived on the scene, Brigitte Bardot was there. Her international star rose in 1956 with the movie "And God Created Women." Now, she's looking back at her life and her career with a tell-all autobiography.

Her new book, "Initials B.B.," went on sale Tuesday in Paris. In it, life imitates art, or at least, a romance novel. "I had a visceral need to be loved," she wrote, "to be desired, to belong body and soul to the man I admire."

Bardot's book marks the first time she has spoken publicly about her life since she retired in 1973. She told reporters she began writing her book the day after her 40th birthday, displaying a 1,500-page handwritten manuscript to prove that she wrote every word of it herself. She turns 62 this week.

In "Initials B.B.," she writes of her years in the movies, of her three failed marriages, her suicide attempts, and of her liaisons with the rich and famous.

Brigitte Bardot's then-scandalous movie "And God Created Woman," was directed by Roger Vadim. She and Vadim married, but it didn't last.

However, Bardot's fame did. She became an international sex symbol and cover girl, and at one time was called France's top export. Her sex appeal led to numerous affairs, including one with Warren Beatty, who she wrote helped her get over an unhappy romance.

"Warren had a ferocious charm that was impossible to resist. Why or for whom would have I resisted him?" she wrote.

Marlon Brando, on the other hand, was easier to resist. Bardot says he was a slob.

Bardot is promising a second volume of memoirs concentrating on her passion for animal rights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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