Le Pen is modern Joan of Arc‑ Bardot

Marine Le Pen, France's National Front political party head

David Chazan

Brigitte Bardot, the 1960s icon of liberated, bikini-clad French womanhood, has described the far-right leader Marine Le Pen as "the Joan of Arc of the 21st century" in an interview with Paris Match.

The magazine published a topless photo of the former actress, taken in 1967 when she was 33, on its cover this week as she prepares to celebrate her 80th birthday in September.