The husband of French film icon Brigitte Bardot revealed the main cause of death on Wednesday ahead of the funeral.
Bernard d’Ormale told a magazine that Brigitte had undergone two operations for cancer before succumbing to the disease last month.
The interview was published on Wednesday ahead of her funeral, the newspaper said AFP.
The actor coped very well with the two procedures, Bernard old the magazine, while well-wishers gathered in Saint-Tropez on Wednesday for a church service and funeral.
No cause of death was given for Bardot, who died on December 28 at the age of 91 at her home, known as la Madrague, on the French Riviera.
The animal rights actress, who recovered from breast cancer in the 1980s, was known to have been hospitalized twice by the end of 2025.
“She always absolutely wanted to go back to La Madrague,” d’Ormale said. “And there it was more complicated, mainly because of back pain that wouldn’t go away, causing her to suffer and become exhausted.
“It was uncomfortable even when she was bedridden,” he added. “Yet she remained aware and concerned about the fate of animals until the end.”
D’Ormale, a former political adviser to far-right leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, did not specify what type of cancer Bardot suffered from.
