French Mayor Ousts Bust Of Rightist Bardot

PARIS (Reuter) - Busts of Marianne, the woman that symbolizes France's republican ideals, are being removed from the town of Quimper because their model, film star Brigitte Bardot, has joined the far right.

Bernard Poignant, mayor of the Brittany town, said Wednesday that Bardot had gone from embodying freedom, beauty and talent to becoming a symbol of rejection.

"Brigitte Bardot today acts on the side of the National Front, an extremist party that dishonors democracy," he said.

"Since the Republic cannot have the face of rejection and retreat, I decided to have these busts of Marianne withdrawn from all public places in Quimper," he said in a statement.

In her heyday as France's most famous film star, Bardot was chosen as the model for Marianne, the woman symbolizing the 1789 Revolution and whose bust adorns all the country's town halls.

Now 62, she has come under attack for outbursts against Arab immigrants and for praising National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen in embittered memoirs published last month.

Bardot left the cinema a quarter of a century ago to become an animal rights defender.

Reuters/Variety