Brigitte Bardot and Jacques Charrier at the birth of their son Nicolas, January 11, 1960. Keystone USA Collection / Bestimage.
Hurt, Nicolas Charrier takes his mother to court.
While this birth proved to be a “traumatic” experience for BB, as she herself confided to Le Point, her harsh words were equally harsh for her son Nicolas. Deeply wounded, Nicolas Charrier sued his mother in 1996 for violation of his right to privacy during pregnancy. In this battle, he could count on the support of his father, Jacques Charrier, who quickly joined his cause. “Brigitte Bardot’s son, Nicolas Charrier, and her ex-husband, Jacques Charrier, are demanding 6 million francs in damages from the actress and 5 million from Grasset, the publisher who released her autobiography, Initiales BB, in October 1996,” reported Libération in 1997. The arguments presented by the actress’s lawyer were not enough to convince the judges, who found her guilty. On March 7, 1997, Jacques and Nicolas Charrier obtained a judgment ordering Brigitte Bardot and her publisher to pay 150,000 francs to the former and 100,000 francs to the latter in damages.
Mother and son on the path to reconciliation.
With time, the star of the film And God Created Woman readily acknowledges her mistakes. “I lacked a lot of support, I lacked parents, people to help me live.” “I didn’t have that,” the actress explained in the pages of Le Parisien in 2022. Time heals all wounds, and although the hurt was still there, mother and son managed to reconnect. “We talk regularly. Living in Norway, he visits me once a year at La Madrague, alone or with his family, his wife, my granddaughters,” she told Var Matin. “I love him in a special way. And he loves me too. He’s a bit like me. Physically, he inherited a lot from his father,” said the woman who felt more at home among animals.