PARIS, Dec 29 — Film legend Brigitte Bardot in her later decades raised eyebrows calling far-right leader Marine Le Pen a modern Joan of Arc,  but she always maintained she was merely doing what was best for animals.

Bardot, who died on Sunday aged 91, argued she was unfairly labelled as a supporter of the anti-immigration far right after she made explosive remarks in the late 1990s about Muslims slaughtering sheep.