Brigitte Bardot turns 75!

Brigitte Bardot, the screen goddess who became a symbol of feminism and sexual liberation, turns 75 on Monday with her native France again honouring her with a first exhibition on her life.

A retrospective exhibit, "Brigitte Bardot, les annees insouciance" (years of nonchalance) at the Espace Landowski in Boulogne-Billancourt near Paris, is an attempt to recapture the impact she had, and to celebrate the era-defining career of a woman who seemed to be a force of nature.
The exhibit opens with a film clip of the star clad only in long black boots and a floating French tricolor flag -- an image that says much about her twin status as sex symbol and national treasure.
For France, she was as much an embodiment of the glamorous post-World War Two world as James Bond, Marilyn Monroe or the Beatles.

Now a virtual recluse who walks on crutches because of arthritis, Bardot will neither attend the Tuesday launch of "Brigitte Bardot: The Carefree Years" -- nor appear on camera.
But in a voiced comment on French television she said: "I am proud to have an exhibition, to be recognised for what I've done with my life."

An icon of the 20th century, the little girl who loved stuffed animals and ballet dancing grew up to become icon of freedom.
From teen idol to fashion goddess and sex bomb, Bardot wound up embodying the spirit of the times -- the empowerment of women and the tide of sexual liberation.