The French icon, who died on Sunday at the age of 91, was celebrated in Brazil, with a samba tune, from the 1960s. Her influence there was such that a fishing village which sheltered her for a few months has since become a posh seaside resort.
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Brigitte Bardot with Brazilian of Moroccan origin Bob Zagury, in this charming village on the Brazilian Atlantic coast. (BETTMANN / BETTMANN / GETTY)” width=”432″ height=”243″ src=”https://www.franceinfo.fr/pictures/ZtPmSoYEmCwfCVKTL6XZaLLvgLM/0x271:4372×2728/432×243/filters:format(jpg)/2025/12/29/gettyimages-517258626-695227f53874a900213719.jpg” fetchpriority=”high”/>
In 1964, Brigitte Bardot was 29 years old and suffered from the paparazzi who harassed her. She then decides to flee France by following her lover at the time to Brazil, the Brazilian basketball player Robert Zagury, also a playboy, inveterate poker player, and future film producer.
But the actress is surprised when she arrives: more than 200 photographers and journalists are waiting for her. After three days cloistered in an apartment in Copacabana, she gave a press conference on the condition, she said, that she would be left alone afterwards. The promise will almost be respected. The young woman then sets off, with a few friends, to the Buzios peninsula (Armação dos Búzios), 190 kilometers east of Rio de Janeiro.
This simple fishing village will over time become an upscale seaside resort. As in Saint-Tropez, Brigitte Bardot will transform the place by moving into a low house with red tiles, along one of the 23 beaches of the peninsula. She stayed there for almost four months, without telephone, running water or electricity. Photos show her in bloom, sometimes in the company of a goat, a cat or a parrot, or simply sitting on a barrel, surrounded by children.
Between two swims in a bikini, the French diva plays the guitar and discovers bossa nova. She also recorded, in Portuguese, the song Maria Nobodya standard by Carlos Lyra.
In her memoirs, published in 1996, Brigitte Bardot confides that it was perhaps in Buzios that she spent the best days of her life.
By leaving the village, the actress left him a piece of her fame. Today, the seaside resort dedicates a promenade to his name, and has a restaurant, a statue, as well as more than 400 hotels, where businessmen and wealthy stars – like Madonna or Mick Jagger – come to relax in complete discretion.
