Brigitte Bardot: #MeToo actresses are hypocritical

Brigitte Bardot has dismissed actresses who have made claims of sexual harassment in the #MeToo movement as “hypocritical”.

The 83-year-old French film star claimed women flirt with producers to get roles and then invent harassment allegations to get attention.

Her remarks came after fellow actress Catherine Deneuve apologised to victims of “odious” sexual attacks, following criticism of her support for a letter signed by 100 French women in newspaper Le Monde.

The letter claimed men were being unfairly accused of misconduct in the wake of Harvey Weinstein scandal. In response, Bardot was asked by magazine Paris Match what she thought of actresses denouncing sexual harassment.

“In the vast majority of cases they are being hypocritical, ridiculous, uninteresting,” she said. “There are many actresses who flirt with producers in order to get a role. Then, in order to be talked about, they will say they have been harassed.”

Bardot said she had never been a victim of sexual harassment during her career, which began in the Fifties, and added: “I found it charming when I was told that I was beautiful or I had a nice little backside.”

The actress has previously been criticised for supporting French far-Right party National Front and in 2004 was convicted of inciting racial hatred in her book, A Cry In The Silence.