Long-time French cinema star Brigitte Bardot has joined and expressed her support for the anti-Macron Gilets Jaunes, or Yellow Jacket, movement releasing a photograph of herself wearing a yellow vest.
The film star released the photo of her wearing the high visibility vest that has become the symbol of the movement that began as a protest against fuel taxes in France on Wednesday alongside the caption, “with you!” Il Giornale reports.
When asked if she supports the political views of her fourth husband Bernard d’Ormale, an open supporter of the populist Rassemblement National (RN/National Rally) led by Marine Le Pen, Bardot said, “My husband has the right to think as he wishes, he has the right to do what he wants.”
“He has his opinions, I have mine, which are completely different from his. I’m right-wing, you know, but I’m not from the National Front, even if you accuse me of being fascist, Nazi, black shirt,” she added.
During the French presidential election last year Bardot famously came out in support for Marine Le Pen during the second round of the election and slammed then-candidate Emmanuel Macron, arguing that animal welfare would suffer under his presidency.
“The contempt he gives to animal suffering can be seen in the total lack of empathy reflected in the coldness of his steel eyes,” she said.
On the topic of Ms Le Pen, Bardot said, “I am very patriotic. I was raised by a father and a grandfather who fought for France and instilled in me a love of my homeland. I am not proud of what France is today… I’m not a ‘facho’ [fascist], any more than Marine Le Pen is.”
Bardot is not the first major figure to support the Yellow Jackets, who have support from both Marine Le Pen and far-left Jean-Luc Mélenchon as well as niece of Ms Le Pen, Marion Maréchal who revealed that she had attended the Paris protest on Saturday November 25th.
According to Maréchal, the violence coming from the Yellow Vest members towards police during the afternoon on the Champs-Élysées was actually from far-left extremists who had infiltrated the movement.