The last husband of Brigitte Bardot received a letter from her before she died and disinherited him, reading: 'You have patiently destroyed me, day after day, for 30 years.'
The sensational handwritten note is now hugely significant as Bernard d'Ormale is locked in a poisonous dispute over the cinema legend's will.
Mr d'Ormale, 85, was until last year living in luxury with Ms Bardot, the former international sex symbol who starred in 45 movies, at their home in St Tropez, in the South of France.
But when she died in December, at the age of 91, she left him nothing, despite their three decades plus together.
The letter, leaked to Le Figaro newspaper and verified by close family members, is dated November 17, 2022, and starts with the words: 'Bernard, it's a failure.'
Then it reads: 'I had a visceral need for a companion who would give me love and accompany me on my last path in life, who would be happy to sit and have a coffee with me.'
Ms Bardot writes about needing 'someone who would take me for a drive, to help me clear my head, who would be smiling – genuinely happy – with the life I offer him. SMILING!!!'
But she then writes: 'Today, I have reached the absolute limit of my distress. For 30 years, you have patiently destroyed me, day after day.
Late movie star Brigitte Bardot (pictured) handed her husband a letter before she died saying that he had 'destroyed' her, Le Figaro reports
Brigitte Bardot pictured with her husband of thirty years Bernard D'Ormale
'I am in such desperate need of a shoulder to lean on, of support, of tenderness, of a presence – things you are simply incapable of giving me. Checkmate!'
Now living in a St Tropez council flat after being evicted from the home he shared with Ms Bardot, Mr d'Ormale last month expressed his fury over an auction that sold off many of her possessions.
Items on sale include Ms Bardot's trademark straw sun hats, a black tutu, berets, toiletries, underwear and classic Repetto ballet shoes.
They were kept at her flat in the French capital and at La Madrague, her home by the Mediterranean, which she bought in 1958 after making her name in the classic film, And God Created Woman.
When asked about being disinherited in Ms Bardot's will, Mr d'Ormale originally claimed: 'I was the one who told her I didn't want anything at all. I also refused any gift, because I didn't want people saying I took advantage of her.'
But he later expressed huge sadness at being forced out of La Madrague, saying: 'I've lived there for thirty-five years and now I'm being kicked out – can you believe it?'
Mr d'Ormale was also upset at being fired as president of his wife's animal charity, the Brigitte Bardot Foundation.
There have been allegations that Mr d'Ormale's past career as an advisor to the late Jean-Marie Le Pen, founder of the far-Right National Front (FN for Front National) and a convicted racist and Holocaust denier, had made him enemies at the Foundation.
Rather than to Mr d'Ormale, all of Ms Bardot's estate is set to go to the Foundation, and to her only son, Nicholas Charrier, who is now 66.
Mr d'Ormale's lawyer, Aurelie-Caroline Vieugue, said before the release of the letter: 'We shouldn't forget that he's 85 years old, an elderly person.
'He was treated deplorably by the foundation, worse than a criminal. You wonder why there's so much aggression towards a man who shared 33 years of his life with Madame Bardot. It really was a 33-year love story.'
Ms Bardot and Mr d'Ormale had a religious wedding in Norway in 1992, but their marriage never held any legal validity in France.
Bardot (pictured) died at 91 on December 28, 2025
Beyond her films, Ms Bardot recorded 70 songs as a pop singer before retiring from public life in 1973.
She met Mr d'Ormale through the FN, and her far-Right politics became increasingly controversial, and she was convicted and fined six times for inciting racial hatred, particularly against immigrants and Muslims, and residents of the French overseas territory of Réunion, whom she called 'degenerate savages'.
Ms Bardot also had a long history of supporting the FN party, which has since been renamed the National Rally.
Ms Bardot was married four times – to film director Roger Vadim between 1952 and 1957, actor Jacques Charrier between 1959 and 1962, socialite Gunter Sachs (1966-1969), and then Mr d'Ormale.
She also had a number of other high-profile relationships, including with the singer Serge Gainsbourg.
Discussing the overall will dispute, a spokesman for the Brigitte Bardot Foundation said: 'Everyone experiences grief in their own way, but this does not reflect reality at all. [Bernard d'Ormale] was well-supported at the time of Brigitte's passing and in the months that followed.
'He simply refuses to accept having to leave La Madrague, even though it is not his home – Brigitte Bardot donated it to her foundation in 1992 – and his departure is a matter of legal obligation.'
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