The untold story of Brigitte Bardot’s son Nicolas-Jacques Charrier

Brigitte Bardot, the iconic French model, actress, and singer, wore many titles. Motherhood was never one of them. Despite her fame and glamour, Bardot often admitted she never felt suited to raising a child. Still, she and her then-husband, Jacques Charrier, welcomed a son, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier, on January 11, 1960, in Paris. The birth happened at home, quietly, in their apartment.

Brigitte Bardot had been married four times, but her union with Charrier brought Nicolas-Jacques Charrier into her life. Her memoirs reveal she struggled with the pregnancy and motherhood, viewing her own child as both a blessing and a burden.

After Bardot and Charrier divorced in 1962, custody of Nicolas passed primarily to his paternal grandparents.

Growing up, Nicolas-Jacques Charrier lived away from Brigitte Bardot, but their connection wasn’t entirely severed. Bardot admitted she couldn’t provide the stability she wanted for Nicolas, explaining that she was uprooted, caught in the whirlwind of fame and personal turmoil.

Over time, she maintained some contact, particularly after marrying Bernard d’Ormale in 1992 near where Nicolas lived.

The relationship between Brigitte Bardot and Nicolas became public in a controversial way when her memoir, Initiales B.B., was published. Nicolas-Jacques Charrier and Charrier tried to censor sections that discussed him, especially passages framing him as a source of misfortune.

They were unsuccessful, and the book sparked lawsuits and fines. Brigitte Bardot’s candid recount of her struggles, including previous abortions and attempts at suicide, fueled media attention, with Nicolas at the center of it.

Despite the tension, Bardot promised Nicolas-Jacques Charrier she would no longer speak about him publicly. Through him, she became a grandmother and eventually a great-grandmother, continuing her legacy quietly within the family.

Even as controversies surrounded her later life, the story of Brigitte Bardot and Nicolas-Jacques Charrier remains a reminder of fame’s complex interplay with private life, a mother and son bound by history, distance, and affection.