On the morning of Wednesday, Jan. 7, in Saint-Tropez, the final chapter closed on a life that left an indelible mark on French—and global—cinema. Ten days after the death of Brigitte Bardot, relatives and close friends gathered at the Church of Notre-Dame-de-l’Assomption to bid her farewell in a ceremony that was understated yet rich in symbolism.

Among those whose presence drew particular attention was her only son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier. He traveled to southern France for his mother’s funeral accompanied by his daughter, Théa Charrier, who attended with her own children. His appearance did not go unnoticed, given the long-standing, often distant and fraught relationship between mother and son.

Brigitte Bardot’s granddaughter, Thea Charrier, together with her daughters/ Getty Images/Ideal Images

The ceremony was also attended by figures from the worlds of art and activism, including Paul Belmondo, Mireille Mathieu, and Paul Watson, all paying tribute to a woman who was both a cinematic legend and a public figure known for her uncompromising views and contradictions.

Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, born of Bardot’s relationship with actor Jacques Charrier, has spent his life largely out of the public eye, in stark contrast to his famously high-profile mother. Their relationship was complicated from an early stage.

In 1996, Bardot caused a storm with remarks in her autobiography, Initiales B.B., where she used harsh language to describe her pregnancy—statements that ultimately led her son to take legal action against her. Among other remarks, she likened Nicolas to “a cancerous tumor feeding on my body” and wrote that she “would have preferred to have given birth to a little puppy.”

Now settled in Norway, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier is the father of two daughters, Anna and Théa, who have themselves become mothers. Bardot had spoken publicly about her great-grandchildren in a 2024 interview with Paris Match, saying: “I am a great-grandmother to three little Norwegians who don’t speak French, and I see them very rarely.”

Brigitte Bardot died on Dec. 28 at the age of 91, in her home in Saint-Tropez, where she had spent her final years withdrawn from public life and far from the spotlight that once defined her.