Disinheritance and Auction: Bardot's Personal Items Invoked for Charity After Bardot's death, an auction of her personal effects ignites a controversy over whether her legacy can be monetised for charity. The former actress's 4th husband disputes the sale, claiming the items would not be sold and praising Bardot's memory. The auction contains thousands of items from early films to 90s bikini," Brigitte Bardot, the legendary French actress and outspoken animal rights advocate, remains a controversial figure even after her passing in December 2023. A year after her death, an auction of her personal belongings has sparked a firestorm, drawing criticism from her fourth husband, Bernard d'Ormale, who disputes the sale and claims disinheritance from Bardot's will. The items up for auction-ranging from her iconic straw sun hats, black tutu, berets, and Repetto ballet shoes to intimate underwear and toiletries-were stored at Bardot's former residences in Paris and on her Mediterranean villa La Madrague. Auction house Millon is conducting the sale in Paris, ostensibly to raise funds for the animal charity Bardot founded and for her son, Nicholas Charrier, now 66.D'Ormale, who once shared the luxury of Bardot's lifestyle in St Tropez, insists that Bardot would have never approved this exposure of her private life. He calls the auction "scandalous" and argues that her belongings should not be used as a fundraising tool. His letter to the French newspaper Nice Matin stated, "How can I prove that these items belong to Brigitte or to our private life? Brigitte would have sent them for packing." The auction, featuring roughly 300 lots, is set to take place at the Hotel Drouot in Paris. D'Ormale fears that the sale could set a precedent that will lead to the liquidation of Bardot's other estates, including La Garrigue in St Tropez. Despite the couple's 30-year marriage-formalised in a religious ceremony in Norway in 1992 but never legally recognised in France-Bardot left nothing to d'Ormale in her will, a fact that he claims he had previously told her.Bardot's legacy, spanning 47 films and 70 songs, is coloured by her later political notoriety; she was convicted six times for inciting racial hatred in the 1990s. She was married to director Roger Vadim, actor Jacques Charrier (father of her son), socialite Gunter Sachs, and d'Ormale, while her high-profile relationships also included singer Serge Gainsbourg.The auction's justification is to support both the Bardot Foundation's animal welfare programmes and her son, yet the disapproval from family members and the public controversy highlight a deeper dispute over how Bardot's cultural and personal heritage should be honoured in the wake of her death