Sophia Loren’s Real Journey Through Hardships to Motherhood

The popular Italian actress gave off the impression of being a happy woman who could easily cope with any difficulties, never doubting her abilities. But Sophia Loren had to go through many hardships in her personal life. The woman, who played a happy mother on-screen many times, couldn’t give birth to a baby for a long time.

The movie star’s biggest dream

At 29, Sophia Loren was already a movie star, as she’d acted in dozens of Italian movies and even some Hollywood flicks. And she was married to a man she loved with all her heart, producer Carlo Ponti. But there was one thing missing in her life.

“In 1963 — when 29 was considered old to be a first-time mother — I was wondering if it would ever happen. And my desire to have children had become an obsession. I simply loved children. On the sets of my movies, I’d befriend the child actors and then stay in touch with them long after shooting had finished,” Loren recalled.

A frog pregnancy test

The actress felt she had pregnancy symptoms for the first time when she played a mother of 7 in the comedy, Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Loren took some tests, but even though they were negative, she still thought she was pregnant.

To do another pregnancy test, the actress met a supposed expert from Rome. But Loren was shocked when he took a frog out of his briefcase and said, “If the frog dies, it means you’re pregnant.” Sophia got rid of the doctor and released the poor creature into a pond.

A first attempt

“Too bad. For a moment there, I thought I was pregnant,” Loren said to herself, but incredibly, she really was pregnant. Another doctor confirmed it and told her not to travel by car to avoid shaking.

Unfortunately, she had to film a scene in a car in those days. Loren almost fainted after the shoot and was sent to the hospital. There, she found out that she had a miscarriage. “Nurses were insensitive, inhumane, devoid of feeling,” recalled Loren. “My life as a star felt like nothing compared with the happiness of the new mothers I’d glimpsed at the hospital.”

Hoping for a miracle

4 years later, Sophia got pregnant again. This happened while she was filming the movie, More Than a Miracle. Hoping for the better, the actress canceled all her work commitments. But this didn’t help.

Soon, she felt something was wrong. “When my pains suddenly stopped at 4 a.m., I knew it was all over. The doctor was called but took 2 hours to get to the hospital,” Sophia recalled. “’Signora,’ he told me, ’you no doubt have excellent hips, and you’re a beautiful woman, but you will never have a child.’”

After 2 miscarriages, the actress felt she was a loser who couldn’t fulfill her dream of becoming a mother. Even her husband, Carlo Ponti, became depressed. He could hardly work, talk, or smile.

Long-awaited sons

A year after her second miscarriage, Loren got pregnant again, but this time, everything was different. This happened because she managed to find a doctor who found the reason why she couldn’t carry a child. He looked at her test results and said confidently, “There’s nothing wrong — you’re a very normal woman. We’ll monitor you closely.”

It turned out that her body didn’t produce enough estrogen. In the following months of her pregnancy, Loren spent time in a hotel room where she received estrogen injections. “Finally, the day came when I was due to have a C-section. I hadn’t slept a wink the night before; the truth is that I didn’t want my pregnancy to end. And I was scared. I didn’t want to share this child that was all mine with anyone else.” On December 29, 1968, 34-year-old Sophia Loren gave birth to her first son, Carlo Ponti Jr.

And 4 years later, the actress got pregnant again. But this time, she decided to continue to work. Until she was in her fifth month of pregnancy, she filmed Man of La Mancha with Peter O’Toole. And her estrogen injections were done by her dressmaker. The remaining months, the star spent time in Geneva to be close to the clinic.

On January 6, 1973, her son, Edoardo, was born. “After having my first child, I’d thought life couldn’t get any better. But Edo actually doubled my happiness,” the actress confessed.

The mother of talented children

Sophia Loren’s children are artistic people, just like their mother. Her elder son, Carlo Ponti Jr., is a world-famous orchestral conductor who’s won many awards. He’s married and has 2 children.

Her younger son, Edoardo, is a film director, and some of his movies were presented at different film festivals. And in his 2020 movie, The Life Ahead, Lauren played the lead part. Edoardo is married to actress Sasha Alexander, and the couple has 2 children, Lucia and Leonardo.

“What always fed my mother’s life force was her family. We were never overshadowed as a family or as children by her accomplishments. We always were made to feel like we were her best accomplishments,” Edoardo revealed. In her memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, Loren wrote, “Being a mom is the greatest role of my life.”

In our next article, we spotlight Sophia Loren’s unapologetic embrace of body hair, illustrating how it symbolizes her remarkable strength and admirable character. With a storied career spanning decades, an enduring iconic allure, and a commitment to unwavering authenticity, she has indisputably secured her position as an inspirational Hollywood luminary.