'They said my nose was too long and my mouth was too big': Sophia Loren admits she was pressured to have surgery as a young actress
Sophia Loren has revealed that she was put under pressure to have plastic surgery early in her career because Hollywood executives did not like her face.
The screen icon said that she was told her nose was too long and her mouth was too big - and that she had to go under the knife to correct it.
Miss Loren, 80, said that she refused and went to ‘war’ with her studio because she firmly believed in staying natural.
She also rowed with Carlo Ponti, her ex-husband and producer, who said that she should get some work done.
Miss Loren has been voted among the top 10 sexiest women of all time despite being an octogenarian.
So her revelation that even even she was deemed to be not attractive enough she will surprise some.
In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-winning actress said: ‘I always tried not to listen to these people
‘They were saying that my nose was too long and my mouth was too big. It didn't hurt me at all because when I believe in something, it's like war. It's a battle.’
Miss Loren said that even Ponti told her: ‘You know the cameramen, they say that your nose is too long. Maybe you have to touch it a little bit.’
She said: ‘And I said: ‘Listen, I don't want to touch nothing on my face because I like my face. If I have to change my nose, I am going back to Pozzuoli (her home in Italy).
‘At that time, they used to do noses like a French nose with a little tip at the end - they liked that. Can you imagine me with a nose like that?’
Miss Loren said that when she was younger she could never imagine herself as an old woman - and even now she can’t believe it.
She said: ‘I don't consider my career closed; if I have a good opportunity for a good role,
‘I'm really ready to do it and to put all my vitality - whatever's left - in the story that I have to do.’
Miss Loren recently opened up about her life in extracts of her memoir ‘Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow’, which were exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail.
She told how she was held up at gunpoint by a jewel thief and described how her doomed affair with Cary Grant left her heartbroken.
She also said how losing two children to miscarriages left her feeling a failure as a woman who would never have a baby.
