Brigitte Bardot, 88, recovering after first responders treated '60s star for breathing issues

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Sex symbol Brigitte Bardot left the spotlight because she’d ‘had enough: author

The actress-turned-animal activist is the subject of a new book, "Being Bardot," which features unseen photos from Douglas Kirkland and Terry ONeill.

Brigitte Bardot is recovering after first responders rushed to her home.

Several French outlets reported on Wednesday that emergency services were called in that morning after the 88-year-old struggled to breathe. A spokesperson for the '60s star confirmed to Fox News Digital that the actress suffered a health scare due to a blistering heat wave in Saint-Tropez but is now recovering.

"Brigitte Bardot is much better," said the spokesperson. "She is resting after her respiratory problem due to the heat wave [with] the temperature in St Tropez exceeding 40° Celsius [104° Fahrenheit]."

The former sex symbol’s husband, Bernard d’Ormale, told Var-matin that "ambulances got the wrong address" before arriving at the couple’s residence.

Brigitte Bardot was struggling to breathe following a heat wave in the South of France. (Getty Images)

"It was around 9 a.m. when Brigitte had trouble breathing," he explained to the local outlet. "It was harder than usual, but she didn’t lose consciousness. Let’s call it a moment of respiratory distraction. The firefighters arrived, gave her oxygen to breathe and stayed for a moment to watch her."

D’Ormale insisted that emergency personnel addressed the health concern and that his wife would continue to recover in their home.

"Like all people of a certain age, she can no longer bear the heat," he said. "It happens at 88, she must not make unnecessary efforts."

On Sunday, Bardot took to social media where she paid tribute to fellow ‘60s French style icon Jane Birkin, the British actress and singer who passed away that day at age 76.

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Jane Birkin, right, seen here with Serge Gainsbourg, passed away on July 16. She was 76. Brigitte Bardot recently took to Twitter and shared a heartfelt tribute for the late actress. (Jacques Haillot/Apis/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

"I am really sad," Bardot wrote in a handwritten letter posted on Twitter. "Jane is gone. When one is so pretty, so fresh, so spontaneous, with the voice of a child, one doesn’t have the right to die. She will remain forever in our hearts."

The women were connected through Serge Gainsbourg. The French singer/songwriter dated Bardot before he met Birkin.

Bardot rose to international fame following the 1956 film "And God Created Woman." Scenes of Bardot dancing on tabletops in the buff sparked scandal, and she was hailed as one of the world’s most desirable women. She made 48 films, recorded dozens of songs and had a slew of lovers, Reuters reported. She retired from acting in 1973.

In 1987, Bardot auctioned her jewelry, art, clothes and other personal belongings. The sale raised $500,000. An auctioneer said at the time that the items represented about one-fifth of Bardot’s personal property.

Brigitte Bardot lives in the South of France with her husband Bernard d’Ormale. (Photo by Silver Screen Collection/Getty Images)

"I gave my beauty and my youth to men," Bardot said at the time. "And now I am giving my wisdom and experience, the best of me, to animals."

Her memoir was published in 1996. In it, she wrote of her three failed marriages, as well as numerous encounters with familiar faces, like Warren Beatty, Pablo Picasso, Marlon Brando and French screen idol Alain Delon, among others.

Since retiring from acting, Bardot has dedicated her life to animals, transforming herself into an outspoken activist who fiercely protects her privacy. However, she has also become a controversial figure in recent years for making eyebrow-raising comments that have sparked fury.

In 2008, she was convicted for the fifth time in 11 years for incitement to religious hatred, Reuters reported. According to People magazine, Bardot wrote a letter in 2006 to the then-Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy, when she criticized the Muslim festival of Aid el-Kebir. She was fined $23,325 and ordered to pay $1,555 to the French group Movement Against Racism and for Friendship of People, The New York Times reported. In 2018, she criticized the #MeToo movement to Paris Match.

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Brigitte Bardot, an animal rights activist, has been the subject of controversy in recent years. (Thomas SAMSON/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)

A photo book on the French star, "Being Bardot," was recently published by ACC Art Books. It features more than 150 photos and contact sheets from the archives of legendary photographers Douglas Kirkland and Terry O’Neill. All the images, many of them rare and unseen, focus on the final years of Bardot’s showbiz career.

O’Neill, who captured London’s swinging ‘60s, passed away in 2019 at age 81. Kirkland, best recognized for his images of Marilyn Monroe, died in 2022 at age 88.

The publisher clarified to Fox News Digital that "Being Bardot" is "a book by two iconic photographers, Terry O’Neill and Douglas Kirkland."

WATCH: SEX SYMBOL BRIGITTE BARDOT LEFT THE SPOTLIGHT BECAUSE SHE’D ‘HAD ENOUGH': AUTHOR

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"This isn’t a visual biography, but a celebration of two incredible collections," they added.

James Clarke, a U.K.-based author and film historian, collaborated with ACC Art Books for their latest release. He told Fox News Digital in June that the reason why Bardot stepped out of the limelight at the height of her career was surprisingly simple – she "had enough."

"There have been a number of books that have been written about her career in the decades since she stepped away from the movies and that public life," Clarke explained. "… There was some exhaustion there, not just from the pace of work, but just [being] the endless subject of a camera lens, whether it’s a still camera lens or a movie lens. That is one of the things that come out a little bit [in this book]… She got to that point where it’s just like, ‘I’ve kind of done it and 20 years has been sufficient.'"

By the 1970s, Brigitte Bardot was eager to leave showbiz. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

"Certainly, if you look at [past] conversations… you do get a sense of her just going, ‘I don’t need to do that anymore,’" he continued. "In the decades since the early '70s, which was really when her career in movies concluded, she became very, very private. Not necessarily reclusive perhaps, but just private, as much of us are."

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"… Obviously, every movie star has peaks and troughs in terms of popularity and the way they connect with an audience. But certainly, that’s my sense of it just in working on this book… It’s just ‘That’s it.’"

The Associated Press contributed to this report.