Blind Items Revealed
December 5, 2012
So, the format of this one differs a little bit from the norm because it came to me from an elderly man who had to translate it through his granddaughter so it is more of a narrative with me adding in the usual listing type stuff and to make it a little more vague then when he was telling it and a little less brutal.
I'm 71 y. o., and I know it for sure: This former A list actress who is foreign born and one of the best actresses ever had a very tough childhood which she never discusses. Back when she was about 11 her grandmother started turning her out for tricks and she could probably be had for about two dollars. Sometimes just for food. She had been raped so often as a child that she later she had a very difficult time carrying children. Her grandmother took naked photos of her and put them on playing cards which she sold at the brothel where our actress plied her trade and later her sister too. Once out actress had earned enough money she moved to a larger city where she met her future husband because he was a client of not only our actress but also her mother who had moved to the larger city together and left behind the younger sister with grandmother to make sure grandmother had enough money.
Sophia Loren
Such a tragic life...
ReplyDeleteThat is painfully and terribly sad.
ReplyDeleteThis is heinous, that poor woman and her sister
ReplyDeleteShe was a popular guess for this one.
ReplyDelete:-(
So sad.
ReplyDeleteSeems to check out ---
ReplyDeleteLoren's parents had another child together, her sister Anna Maria Villani Scicolone, in 1938. Loren has two younger paternal half-brothers, Giuliano and Giuseppe.[5] Romilda, Loren, and Maria lived with Loren's grandmother in Pozzuoli, near Naples, to survive.[6]
During World War II, the harbour and munitions plant in Pozzuoli was a frequent bombing target of the Allies. During one raid, as Loren ran to the shelter, she was struck by shrapnel and wounded in the chin. After that, the family moved to Naples, where they were taken in by distant relatives.[citation needed]
After the war, Loren and her family returned to Pozzuoli. Grandmother Luisa opened a pub in their living room, selling homemade cherry liquor. Villani played the piano, Maria sang and Loren waited on tables and washed dishes. The place was very popular with the American GIs stationed nearby.
I am so sorry and sad to read this.
ReplyDeleteThis item should not have been revealed, especially about someone still alive. BTW, I remember seeing the TV movie "Sophia Loren: Her Own Story" back in the '80s, in which Sophia played herself and her mother as a young woman. The poor, wartime childhood was definitely discussed, if not the details mentioned here. And by the way, how does this old guy know, anyway?
ReplyDeleteFrom what I recall from reading he is the brother of an actor she worked with. This may be his daughter - an Italian actress or tv host.
DeleteFrom what I recall from reading he is the brother of an actor she worked with. This may be his daughter - an Italian actress or tv host.
DeleteWhoops sorry for the dble post
Deleteits awful to have this information more accessible to some vicious person who might approach her with it, somewhere, on the street or somewhere. so sad!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletedid you know that her sister Maria got married Mussolini's son?
ReplyDeleteMany of you were on the ball for this one...she is a beautiful, strong woman who has clearly risen above her horrific beginnings.
ReplyDelete@E Gee Be - proof that it can be done.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking at you, Lohan Girls...
I was thinking the same thing Amber. Side eye to the Hohans.
DeleteThis is so sad. :(
ReplyDeleteI don't think this one should have been revealed! It's horrific, and she has earned the right to her privacy because she survived/overcame this brutality. I'm really really sorry I read this. :(
ReplyDeleteFor shame.
Poor Sophia. So sad she had to live such a horrible life.
ReplyDeleteStraight out of the pages of Catch-22: see Nately's whore and her kid sister.
ReplyDeletePost-war Italy was a pretty grim place to try to survive.
I agree with the people who said it should never have been revealed. The hell that this woman survived earns her the right to privacy.
ReplyDeleteNot surprised, she was a very popular guess. Still sad, but good for her to pull herself out of the gutter like that.
ReplyDeleteHowever, what does the last sentence mean? She left her younger sister with her grandmother to make sure the grandmother would have enough money? Does this mean her younger sister remained as a prostitute?
Sophia Loren from her IMDB:
ReplyDeletePersonal Quotes
Sex appeal is 50% what you've got and 50% what people think you've got.
Mistakes are a part of the dues one pays for a full life.
The two big advantages I had at birth were to have been born wise and to have been born in poverty.
Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go so much further than people with vastly superior talent.
[on adultery] It's a game I never play.
Hate is unfulfilled love.
Everything you see I owe to spaghetti.
he facts of life are that a child who has seen war cannot be compared with a child who doesn't know what war is except from television.
I've never tried to block out the memories of the past, even though some are painful. I don't understand people who hide from their past. Everything you live through helps to make you the person you are now.
I hated my father all my life but in his final days I forgave him for all the suffering he caused us. As you grow older, marry, and have children of you own, you learn and forget. I do not forget easily, but I do forgive.
There IS a Fountain of Youth: It is your mind, your talents, the creativity you bring to your life and the lives of the people you love. When you learn to tap this source, you will truly have defeated age.
Cooking is an act of love, a gift, a way of sharing with others the little secrets -- "piccoli segreti" -- that are simmering on the burners.
A woman's dress should be like a barbed wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view.
A mother has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child.
Her mother allowed this to happen to her children? Where was the father/husband?
ReplyDeleteOr, was this the family business? The grandmother was a prostitute who pimped her own daughter, and when her daughter had children, the granddaughters were pimped out too?
Sad, truely sad.
But then when you think about it, there are countless entertainers who grew up in or around brothels. Sammy Davis, Jr., Richard Pryor and Billy Holiday are three that I can think of.
I totally agree that this shouldn't have been revealed. Painting that little girl from 'Modern Family' as an out of control, slutty teenager wasn't enough?
ReplyDeleteAlso, throwing in the intro of an old man testifying to it is really transparent.
for every one,it's only the rumors about Sophia Loren's past .
ReplyDeleteEnty forgot the rumors about porn movies before she starts to make traditional movies and why she had trouble with italian tax (she refused to have an affair with an italian political leader)
Her mother allowed this to happen to her children? Where was the father/husband?
ReplyDeleteOr, was this the family business? The grandmother was a prostitute who pimped her own daughter, and when her daughter had children, the granddaughters were pimped out too?
Sad, truely sad.
But then when you think about it, there are countless entertainers who grew up in or around brothels. Sammy Davis, Jr., Richard Pryor and Billy Holiday are three that I can think of.
How brutal and horrifying. How anyone can allow this to happen to their own child or grandchild defies all comprehension.It is beyond inhuman to do this to a child.
ReplyDeleteYeahhhhh... I would actually have been okay with this one NOT getting revealed. To say nothing of the fact that apparently you can just claim to "know it for sure" in order to share/start a rumor through Enty.
ReplyDeleteAnd don't bother with all the, "if you don't like it go somewhere else" comments. I'm not leaving until I know who Coke Mom is! *crosses arms, pouts and taps foot*
Italy during and after the war was brutally stark- no food no shelter, no money. One had to do the things you never thought you could to survive. My hat is off to her towering strength. And if I could, I would hug this poor hungry desperate child.
ReplyDeleteIf you've ever seen her best actress performance in Two Women you would know in your heart this was her...she took all that pain and made magic.
ReplyDeleteI think it's also why she stayed married to Carlo Ponte he knew her and accepted her
I've posted this before about Sofia
ReplyDeleteAt a company I used to work one of the security guards was an ex NYC police officer who told me the following story:
When he was a rookie cop they were handing out assignments one morning and one of the jobs was to go to a bookstore and sit with someone all day at a book signing. No one wanted to do it (BORRRRRING!) and as the newest, youngest guy he was stuck with the job and he was kind of ticked off.
So he went downtown to the book store and the celebrity signing books was... Sophia Loren.
He was "stuck" sitting next to her all day as she signed books and chatted to fans. He said she was utterly gorgeous up close and fun and witty and very, very kind. No snark or bitchiness from her.
The actress from Rizzoli and Isles (Sasha Alexander) is married to one of Loren's sons. I've seen her on talk shows and she has spoken about how warm and funny Loren is.
@Mango, thanks for sharing that lovely story. Sophia Loren is timeless gorgeous graciousness!
ReplyDelete@Mango, that's awesome. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't be surprised if this were true. My father is very scarred from living in occupied France during WWII. He saw a lot as a little boy he shouldn't have seen. No one in his family will discuss that period.
ReplyDeleteI think these stories about Loren having been around for a long time.
So Carlo Ponti was a client? Of both her AND her mother?
ReplyDeleteI saw someone tweet this and it kind of makes sense in this instance:
ReplyDeleteHow aloof and uninterested a parental figure must usually have been for someone to grow up so deeply charming.
The days of the war were brutal,those days you did anything to survive cause you didnt know if you were gonna live to see tomorrow, just look at vietnam, i always believe vietnam war birthed the hippies generation, it was such an unsure time that all you wanted to do was live as free as you can til you died
ReplyDeletethis is heart breaking. so so sad.
ReplyDeleteWell said auntliddy. While this shouldn't have been revealed, it speaks volumes about resilience from unspeakable suffering and pain. I've always loved Sophia, I'm an old soul at heart and have always thought the best of Hollywood is found in the black and white films.
ReplyDeleteAs long as men pay for sex with children, it's going to happen. "Trafficking" is the fastest-growing segment of crime in America. An average child can bring 75,000 dollars to a pimp, and if a pimp or madame can get a dozen children, he or she can bring in almost a million dollars tax-free in a year. Few of the children ever speak of it if they escape. It's a tragedy going on right now in this nation, today. (My work with foster care and street kids has opened my eyes to a terrible side of life recently.)
ReplyDeleteI am old, and I thought when this was posted it must be her--I can remember stories about her horrible childhood and how much she suffered during the war.
ReplyDeleteI've always thought she was such a beautiful woman--inside and out--she seems to be a genuinely good person-and I remember what a hard time she had having her children later in life. I'm glad she was so successful in the end and has achieved so much. I still think she's beautiful even now.
Sophia Loren is most gorgeous and gracious for everything she has been through. I cannot say enough about how much class she has.
ReplyDeleteAS someone said, take note Lohan sisters, Duff Sisters, Amanda Bynes, and a whole slew of other ungrateful people.
Outing the victim of rape - especially child rape - is unacceptable. Enty, you should be ashamed of yourself.
ReplyDeleteGULP. This just broke my heart
ReplyDeleteI would have let my grandmother starve rather then have her pimp out my sister.
ReplyDeleteI think everyone had guessed this one. It's sad that she had to go thru such a horrible episode but it really makes me admire her more. She could have easily let it ruin her life but she really rose above it all, truly admirable.
ReplyDeleteI am probably going to make waves here, and I honestly don't intend to, but I want to point out that over the years and after so many blind items, there are bound to be items that don't sit well with you. I don't think that Enty should censor himself. That's the beauty of this blog. Sometimes it's disgusting or heartbreaking, sometimes they are sweet and wonderful. It's not Enty's job to gauge whether or not a blind item (or its reveal) is going to offend readers. He is constantly blogging about the underbelly of Hollywood, and it isn't always pretty. :(
ReplyDeleteWhen gossip columnists revealed that Jack Nicholson effed an underage Minnie Driver and that she was traumatized by being forced to service him, the same kind of ethical question was raised. I don't think that this blind and reveal are entirely deplorable. Somewhat, but not entirely. I mean, many young people are forced into prostitution, and in the larger perspective I think this could open people's eyes to the reality.
ReplyDeleteEnty & team: Posts like this is why this site will never be as popular as sites like Dlisted. You just don't get it with regard to invisible lines that should never be crossed.
ReplyDeleteYou took a fun experience of outing charitable and not-so-charitable behaviour by celebrities and ruined the experience for most of your readers by outing a victim of horrific sexual abuse.
In your own blind you stated she never discusses her childhood. Yet, if this blind is true, you outed a very painful secret to the world. For the purpose of increasing traffic to your site to make more revenue from advertising. This is disgusting and reprehensible behaviour on your part, and I truly hope you are sued and outed yourself.
I'm out of here.
She, too, will rise above this. Sophia is an amazing and beautiful woman. Inside and out.
ReplyDeleteIf this is true it is horrible. I don't think it should have been revealed. I also don't understand how no one else ever came forward with any of this information.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me very sad. I feel a connection to Sophia because I spent my teenage years living in a house overlookind the Bay of Pozzuoli, just north of Naples, and my house looked down on the house where she was born and grew up. I learned many stories about her early years and was aware of the prostitution but not how young she was. She is still and always will be a goddess to me. Viva Sophia!
ReplyDeleteMy heart just broke. She is absolutely gorgeous and amazing. The reveal is painful and questionable, but it is done. Now maybe her story will inspire someone to move past what has traumatized. Sophia is someone to look up to.
ReplyDeleteI'm not trying to start anything, here, but I've read alot about european history and don't think any of us fully understand just how terrible things were in europe after WWI. People witnessed HORRIBLE things; life was very, very hard for a lot of people. And this is the generation that embraced facsism and National Socialism. Not that it makes pimping out children okay, but people made it okay just so they could live.
ReplyDeleteI don't think Enty revealed anything most of us didn't already know. It certainly doesn't make me feel any different about her.
ReplyDeleteI THOUGHT MY MOTHER WAS THE ONLY EVIL PERSON ON THIS EARTH...
ReplyDeleteMAYBE I SHOULD TELL MY MOTHER ABOUT SOPHIA LOREN'S GRANDMOTHER AND MOTHER, SO SHE COULD HAVE SOMEONE TO RELATE TOO...
Cosign @eleanorrigby
ReplyDeleteThat poor lady. I hope that she can get lost in people watching from her amazeballs apartment in Roma.
ReplyDelete