Brigitte Bardot’s Tragic Final Days

Brigitte Bardot, legendary blond bombshell and activist, is ravaged by pain, crippled by degenerative arthritis, and dying a lonely recluse in her French Riviera hideaway!

“My life is hell,” the former sex kitten admits. “I have paid dearly for celebrity.”

“Brigitte’s in terrible agony," The National ENQUIRER learned from a source close to the long-retired actress. "Friends are worried her days are numbered. She can barely put one foot in front of the other and is forced to use crutches on the rare occasions she ventures from her home. It’s heartbreaking to see her struggling, her face etched in pain.

“She has gone from being a screen goddess and Playboy pinup to a gnarled old woman," adds the source. “She’s overweight, her face bloated and wrinkled from years of sunbathing. She hasn’t looked after herself properly for years. She’s had health scares for decades. Now we fear her lifestyle has caught up with her and she’s dying.”

An international icon, Brigitte sparked more worry when she refused to leave her villa, Madrague, to attend the unveiling ceremony of a statue in her honor in St. Tropez on her 83rd birthday, Sept. 28. “She’s lived there for almost 60 years but wouldn’t show up for the event,” says a source.

Brigitte, who skyrocketed to fame in 1956 in the erotic flick "And God Created Woman" — directed by her first husband, Roger Vadim (left) — has become a bitter, angry, racist recluse, claim sources. She’s been blasted for her views on immigration and gay rights and was convicted five times for inciting racial hatred in her writings.

“I will never be ashamed of what I did, what I said or who I was,” she insists. “I don’t give a damn what people think about me.” Brigitte, who quit acting at 39 when she became too old to play the sexpot, has been married to fourth husband Bernard d’Ormale, a right-wing conservative, since 1992.

Her saving grace is she’s a ferocious activist for animal rights, says a source. She even sold her jewels to set up a foundation for shelter animals. "They are my friends, my children, my love,” she says. “Men are beasts. People will betray your secrets, your friendship and your love. But animals will never deceive you.”

Vadim — who married Brigitte when she was 18, two years after she became his lover — wasn’t surprised she turned to animals for companionship. “Her trouble," he said before his death in 2000, "is she doesn’t like people.”