Pressure to look “perfect” isn’t something new in Hollywood

Nov 8, 2014 09:59 GMT  ·  By
At 80, Sophia Loren is still considered one of the most beautiful women in the world
2 photos
   At 80, Sophia Loren is still considered one of the most beautiful women in the world

She is one of the most popular actresses of all times, a true screen siren. She’s also been named the World’s Most Naturally Beautiful person several times and is often asked how she manages to look as beautiful and glamorous at 80 as she did when she was young.

But Sophia Loren isn’t a stranger to Hollywood pressure to look “perfect.” If you thought actresses today are having a hard time with it, think again: there’s always been a demand for leading ladies to “correct” certain things about their appearance, things that were deemed to be in the way of their looking “perfect.”

Sophia Loren can attest for that.

There’s always room for “improvement” if you’re in showbiz

Some might argue that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, while many could say that perfection can’t be attained, because it’s an ideal, not something that exists in real life. Others could even say that Loren is perfection itself, and you can’t improve on that.

In a recent public appearance, Loren contradicted all these by recalling how she too was told she needed plastic surgery when she was young. Apparently, this would have helped her break into Hollywood, and it was first suggested to her by her late husband, producer Carlo Ponti, The Hollywood Reporter informs.

Loren is very vocally against plastic surgery, and she’s spoken before about being told she should get at least a nose job because the nose she’d been born with wasn’t exactly in the trends at the time.

Here she is offering more details about that: “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.”

“But even Carlo said, ‘You know the cameramen, they say that your nose is too long. Maybe you have to touch it a little bit.’ 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.’ 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?” the stunning actress explains.

Not many have her courage to refuse such “suggestions”

However, in today’s Hollywood, an attitude like Loren’s is very rare because few are the actresses who actually have the courage to stand up and refuse this kind of “suggestions.” Many of them don’t because they know their career depends on it.

With this type of pressure on all stars, not just young or aging, cosmetic surgery is seeing an unprecedented rise in popularity. Today, even non-famous people are turning to it, and quite many times they ask for features they admire on their idols, be it the nose, the lips, or buttock.

The reverse of this situation is just as disheartening: the more stars give in to pressure to stay “young” for ever, the more they’re criticized for it. More recently, the case of Renee Zelleweger made headlines around the world, after she walked the red carpet looking like an entirely different person.

Rumor has it that she had a facelift and some kind of intervention on her eyes, which made them less “squinty,” but also fillers and Botox. She was trashed online and in the media, as rumors claimed she only turned to plastic surgery because she was afraid she wasn’t being offered major roles anymore because she was growing old.

In showbiz, you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t, especially where plastic surgery is concerned. The only way you can win in such a situation is if you prove haters wrong by staying true to yourself, like Mrs. Loren did.

Sophia Loren, screen siren (2 Images)

At 80, Sophia Loren is still considered one of the most beautiful women in the world
Sophia Loren was stunning when she was young – but she was still told to get plastic surgery
Open gallery