Brigitte Bardot, 89, makes rare public appearance as she goes for a drive in the south of France after suffering health scare

Brigitte Bardot was seen making a rare public appearance last week as she went for a drive in the south of France.

The French actress was pictured behind the wheel of an old white van on her 89th birthday.

Brigitte drove from her luxury villa La Madrague in Saint Tropez to her estate in La Garrigue.

She wore a black long-sleeved top and a pair of large sunglasses, while her blonde hair was pulled back into a messy bun.

Her exit comes after emergency services rushed to her home in July after she had difficulty breathing.

Her husband Bernard d’Ormal confirmed the news and clarified what happened shortly after the incident took place at their residence in Saint Tropez.

He said Var-matin: “It was around 9 o’clock when Brigitte had trouble breathing,” noting that the ambulance in the south of France initially “got the wrong” address.

He continued: “(Her breathing) was stronger than usual but she didn’t lose consciousness. Let’s call it a moment of distraction.’

Bernard confirmed that when the ambulance arrived, they put Brigitte on oxygen ‘and stayed to watch her’ for a while.

He said: “Like all people of a certain age, she can’t take the heat anymore. It happens at the age of 88. She must not make useless efforts.’

Brigitte starred in 47 films before leaving the film industry in 1973.

Born and raised in Paris, she was an aspiring ballerina before working as a model and actress.

She was just 15 when she graced the cover of Elle magazine in 1950, launching her acting career.

Soon after, Brigitte met her first husband, film director Roger Vadim, at an audition. She didn’t get the part, but she and Roger fell madly in love.

Despite her family’s initial disapproval, they married in 1952, when she was 18 and he was 24.

Brigitte rose to fame and became an international sex symbol after playing a sexually liberated young woman in the 1956 film And God Made Woman.

She and Roger divorced the following year, but continued to work together in 1958’s The Night Heaven Fell.

In 1959, she married Jacques Charrier and together they had a son, Nicolas, before separating in 1962.

Four years later she married the German millionaire Gunther Sachs, but they divorced in 1969.

Since retiring from acting, she has dedicated herself to the Brigitte Bardot Foundation, which is dedicated to animal protection.

Brigitte started the organization in Saint Tropez, a seaside town on the French Riviera, in 1986 with money raised from the sale of her jewelry.

The actress turned animal rights activist has been married to far-right political aide Bernardo since 1992.

Brigitte has become a controversial figure in recent years and has been fined six times for ‘inciting racial hatred’ with her writings about animal abuse.

In 2019, she launched an unrelenting attack on the residents of La Réunion, one of France’s overseas territories spanning the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean, in response to what she saw as their mistreatment of animals.

Brigitte called the Indian Ocean islanders “savages” and was later fined 20,000 euros, about $23,000, by a French court in 2021.

Her spokesman Bruno Jacqueline was also fined 4,000 euros (£3,400) by a court in the capital Saint-Denis de la Réunion for his role in sending a statement to several media outlets at her request.

“The natives have retained their savage genes,” the animal rights campaigner wrote in an open letter attacking the islanders for their treatment of animals, describing the locals as “degenerate savages”.

She targeted the island’s Hindu Tamil population for goat sacrifices, evoking the “cannibalism of centuries past” while lashing out at “a degenerate population still steeped in the traditions of barbaric ancestors”.

Brigitte has also been condemned in the past for her comments about Muslims.

The then French Minister for Overseas Territories, Annique Girardin, told her in a letter after her comments at Le Réunion “that racism is not an opinion, it is an insult”.

Didier Robert, president of the Réunion region, previously described Brigitte as “irresponsible, outrageous and despicable”.

He said her letter contained deeply racist language that was “absolutely unacceptable”.

Animal rights activists say animal abuse is common on the island and animal sacrifice is tolerated in some religious ceremonies.

Brigitte is a close friend of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the founder of the FN, who was convicted of anti-Semitism, racism and Holocaust denial. His daughter Marine Le Pen now leads the party.