She sizzled in "Blue Velvet," and brought "Green Porno" to the masses. And, now in her seventies, this superstar's still got a few tricks up her sleeve. Celebrity poly family to global sensation, Isabella Rosselini is still turning heads.
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00:00She sizzled in blue velvet and brought green porno to the masses.
00:05And now, in her 70s, this superstar's still got a few tricks up her sleeve.
00:10Celebrity Pauly family to global sensation, Isabella Rossellini is still turning heads.
00:16In 1952, Swedish actor Ingrid Bergman and filmmaker Roberto Rossellini welcomed fraternal
00:23twin girls, Isabella and Ingrid Rossellini.
00:27We grew up dressed the same, sleeping in the same room, so for many years we were the same."
00:32While Ingrid pursued a career in Italian literature and film education, Isabella chose the spotlight,
00:38just like her superstar parents.
00:40The girls were raised in a polygamous setting, with Isabella later telling David Letterman,
00:45"'My father was married, besides my mother had other wives and other kids, so we were
00:50seven altogether.'"
00:52During her childhood, Isabella moved between France, Italy, and Sweden, becoming fluent
00:56in three languages.
00:58On the outside, it seemed that the family was doing well financially, but that wasn't
01:02the case.
01:03She told The New York Times,
01:04"'Sometimes people think that with fame comes money, but it doesn't.
01:08My father was always an experimental filmmaker.
01:11He was always very rigorous.
01:13He was an influential filmmaker, but he was never a box office success.'"
01:18Isabella was 12 when she was diagnosed with scoliosis, a malformation of the spine.
01:23It landed her on the operating table, and required two years for her to get back on
01:27her feet.
01:28During that time, her mother, Ingrid, served as her caregiver.
01:32She shared with People magazine,
01:34"'My mother, who had a full career, stopped working for two years to be with me every
01:38day while I was ill.'"
01:40Rossellini would have another spine surgery in her 60s, but yet another misfortune Rossellini
01:44experienced in her teens was sexual assault.
01:47For years, the actor has kept the identity of the abuser hidden, recalling that the perpetrator
01:52was roughly her age.
01:53She told Vulture,
01:54"'I don't know what happened to him.
01:56He might be married.
01:57He might have children.
01:58I am a superstar in Italy.
01:59If I said who did this, I would destroy him.'"
02:03When Rossellini was in her late teens, her mother sent her to study at Finch College
02:07in New York to perfect her English.
02:09As Rossellini told Interview magazine,
02:11"'When I grew up, in the 50s, 60s, if you knew English, the doors would open everywhere.'"
02:16"'It took me so much, you know, to try to be warm and speak with that accent.'"
02:22Rossellini soon earned a three-year opportunity to work as an assistant and translator for
02:26Italian sports journalist Gianni Mina, who had a TV show, but wasn't familiar with the
02:31language.
02:32Rossellini covered interviews and got to meet stars like boxing legend Muhammad Ali, as
02:36she recalled with Vulture,
02:37"'It was the best job you could do.
02:40I learned problem-solving, research.
02:42I would also do skits with a comedian named Renzo Arbore, who was then offered his own
02:47show.
02:48So I went to work with him, doing little funny stories from America.'"
02:51While on staff at the TV channel, Rossellini met her first husband, filmmaker Martin Scorsese.
02:57As Rossellini explained to Vulture, she hadn't watched Scorsese's 1978 documentary The Last
03:02Walt ahead of their interview.
03:04Instead, he invited her to see it afterward.
03:06The following year, the couple walked down the aisle.
03:09Rossellini would later admit that her connection with Scorsese came about because of her background.
03:14She told The Irish Independent,
03:15"'When I married Martin Scorsese, I was 27, and I didn't think there was that much that
03:20was interesting about me.
03:22But he was fascinated by my father.
03:24We used to visit Italy together.
03:25He was thirsty for understanding of the place and of Italian-American culture.
03:30His films are all about that.'"
03:32The couple split in 1982 due to issues with infidelity.
03:36Scorsese eventually settled down for the long term with Helen Morris.
03:40Rossellini's entry into the world of modeling was purely accidental.
03:44A photo shoot she had done in passing with renowned photographer Bruce Weber found its
03:48way onto the cover of Vogue, and since then, she has appeared in the magazine numerous
03:53times.
03:54Although she was still married at the time, Rossellini didn't wear her wedding ring.
03:57She revealed to Vulture,
03:58"'Models weren't supposed to have an identity beyond the photograph.
04:02You were the element for people to complete their fantasy of an ideal woman.'"
04:07The Vogue cover got Rossellini in the door for a years-long working relationship with
04:10cosmetic giant Lancôme.
04:12The gig made her more money than she could count, but in the mid-'90s, she was axed by
04:17the beauty retailer for her age.
04:19It would take another 23 years or so for Lancôme to reconsider, and hire her back.
04:24"'I see you, little thing.'"
04:27Rossellini told The Guardian in 2020,
04:29"'I'm not there now to represent beauty.
04:32I'm there to represent a different dream.'
04:34It may be defined as joyfulness.
04:37Life goes on, and there are many chapters.
04:39I think that's why they keep me."
04:42Photographer Bruce Weber was instrumental in Rossellini's modeling career, as well as
04:46the meeting of her second husband, former model Jonathan Wiedemann.
04:51As Rossellini's daughter, Aletra Wiedemann, told the Daily Mail,
04:54"'I owe my existence to Bruce Weber and Calvin Klein.
04:58Bruce introduced my parents to each other on a Calvin Klein shoot.
05:01My mother had just lost her mother and realized she wanted a family of her own, so my parents
05:06didn't waste time conceiving me.'"
05:07Born in July 1983, Aletra eventually got into the modeling industry and worked with all
05:12sorts of top industry brands and other celebrity talent.
05:16She also appeared as an actor in her mom's 2011 documentary, Animals Distract Me, and
05:21the John Cameron Mitchell-directed music video for Azant Provocateur, Control Yourself.
05:26Aletra got her master's in biomedicine from the London School of Economics and Political
05:31Science, and is the executive director of Isabella's Mama Farm.
05:34"'Now my life is very intertwined with my mother's.'"
05:38Ten years after she had Aletra, Isabella adopted her son, who also shares her father's name,
05:43Roberto Rossellini.
05:45In 1986, Rossellini starred in the David Lynch-directed Blue Velvet.
05:50The role was meant for British star Helen Mirren, but she declined it.
05:54In the multiple award-nominated flick, Rossellini plays Dorothy Valance, a nightclub songstress
05:59whose family's kidnapping leads to a whirlwind romance.
06:03Rossellini was subsequently thrust into the limelight, as graphic themes sparked mixed
06:07reactions from the public.
06:08"'Look, I'm sorry, just let me leave.'"
06:10"'No way!
06:11I want to see you get undressed!'
06:14According to renowned movie critic Roger Ebert, some of the movie's explicit moments came
06:19at the expense of the actor's mental wellness.
06:21He wrote,
06:22"'The movie is powerful, challenging, and made with great skill.
06:26And yet it made me feel pity for the actors who worked in it.
06:30And anger at the director for taking liberties with them.'"
06:32Rossellini responded to the sentiment, telling Backstage,
06:34"'It was very controversial.
06:36I remember not reading the reviews at the time, but being told by several people that
06:41Roger Ebert felt very protective of me and felt I had been used.
06:45It was a surprise.
06:46I am an adult.
06:48No one uses me.'"
06:50Rossellini and David Lynch first met after Rossellini had wrapped up her first role in
06:54the United States in White Nights.
06:56They worked together on Blue Velvet and dated afterward, bringing Rossellini's relationship
07:01with Jonathan Wiedemann to a halt.
07:03But these two weren't destined to last forever, either.
07:06According to Rossellini, there were no signs that anything was wrong in their relationship.
07:10She told one German outlet,
07:12"'All my instincts had told me that we were a happy couple.'"
07:15She was then caught by surprise when Lynch suddenly left after five years together.
07:20Rossellini sought professional help to deal with the breakup.
07:22She revealed,
07:23"'I talked to other women who had the same thing happen to them, and I did therapy.
07:28I had already had this experience when my parents died, that time heals.'"
07:32For his part, Lynch was remorseful about his actions.
07:36Speaking to Vulture about the split, he said,
07:38"'I might have wanted to shut the door and not leave a squeak of light coming through,
07:42but I feel bad about cutting it off that way.'"
07:45In 2013, Rossellini purchased the farm of her dreams in Brookhaven, on the south shore
07:50of Long Island, New York.
07:53The place made her think of home, even though it required a major facelift.
07:57She explained to Vogue,
07:58"'I noticed this very beautiful big red barn.
08:01It reminded me straight away of Sweden.
08:03As soon as I saw it, I loved it.'"
08:06Rossellini transformed the run-down property into a barn-like residence with a pool and
08:10gym and packed it with farm animals.
08:13She named it Mama Farm, telling Charlie Rose,
08:16"'A lot of people call it Isabella's Farm.
08:18And I said, you cannot be called Isabella Farm, because I'm going to die.'"
08:23Having opened up her farm to the public, she explained that Mama Farm was an ode to the
08:27mothers and children who visit, in order to learn about plants, animals, and fruit.
08:32"'Look at this one, it's called a Polish.
08:34Has an incredible hairdo.'"
08:36According to the Mama Farm website, a stay in the serene haven costs $350 per night.
08:42In April 2024, Rossellini unveiled the Mama Farm Foundation.
08:46Through a post on Instagram, she announced the sale of ponchos made by wool from Mama
08:51Farm's sheep to help fund the effort.
08:54Rossellini's daughter Elettra Wiedemann welcomed her first child in January 2018.
08:59As for her reaction to becoming a grandmother, Rossellini wrote in an Instagram post on Ronan's
09:05third birthday,
09:06"'Here is the photo of our first encounter after a long night of my daughter's labor.
09:11I even fainted and I didn't give birth.
09:13I am the Nana,' but was overwhelmed with emotions."
09:16In 2018, Rossellini, Elettra, and her partner Caleb Lane, Roberto, and Ronan turned heads
09:23while walking down a Dolce & Gabbana runway together.
09:26It was Ronan's first modeling gig.
09:28Wiedemann and her future husband, Pretty Little Liars actor Caleb Lane, shared more good news
09:33in June 2021, when their second child, Viggo River Lane, was born.
09:38It appears that the job of a grandparent is close to Rossellini's heart.
09:42In May 2024, she posted a picture of herself holding a baby's hand with the caption,
09:47"'I love being a grandmother.
09:49A Nana.'"
09:51Rossellini's love for animals began at a young age.
09:54In a reminiscent Instagram post, she shared that her family would often have a lamb brought
09:58in for Easter celebrations.
10:00But as she recalled,
10:01"'I think it was killed for our meals.
10:04Of course, I never realized that and just kissed it and kissed it as much as I could.'"
10:09"'I am known as the Praying Mantis.'"
10:11In the late 2000s, she starred as the narrator and illustrator in the educational series
10:16Green Porno, which explored animal mating tendencies.
10:19Then, in 2020, Rossellini brought her talents online in yet another animal-related show
10:25dubbed Sex and Consequences.
10:28Just a year prior to that, she had graduated from Hunter College.
10:32She announced,
10:33"'Finally got my master's degree on animal behavior and conservation.'
10:36The ceremony was most touching and inspiring."
10:39Hillary Clinton delivered the commencement speech,
10:42"'I am overwhelmed with emotion and gratitude.'"
10:45Rossellini is most happy when she's surrounded by a lot of animals, and she clearly loves
10:49each of their unique personalities.
10:51The actor told German public media DW in 2020,
10:55"'I have a little circus dog that I toured with in a show called Link-Link Circus.
11:00She is the most obedient.
11:02The hardest ones are the sheep, because they are big animals, and the other day they just
11:06broke into my house.'"
11:08It goes without saying that Rossellini was destined to be an entertainer, from the start.
11:12As a young girl, she spent a lot of time on set with her director dad, learning the ropes.
11:17Now in her 70s, Rossellini hasn't hung up her boots just yet.
11:22In 2023, she appeared in the archaeological tale La Chimera, which premiered in the United
11:27States in March 2024 and bagged several award nominations, including wins for Best Cinematography
11:33and Best Ensemble Cast performance at the Chicago International Film Festival.
11:37Although it didn't quite do as well at the box office, with a revenue of $44,511 for
11:43its opening weekend in the United States and Canada, the film represented a glimmer of
11:47hope for Rossellini.
11:48In April 2024, she received a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Davide Di Donatello
11:54Awards.
11:55It was an achievement that convinced her that her acting career was still intact.
12:00Having been a previous winner of the award, she posted on Instagram,
12:03"'It's not over.
12:04The door is still open.
12:06What joy it is to work even if I am old.'"
12:09If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available.
12:13Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN's National Helpline
12:19at 1-800-656-HOPE, 4673.
12:29For more UN videos visit www.un.org