“She was 16, he was 37 – and she never let him go” IT Sophia Loren’s son just revealed the truth behind her forbidden love story with Carlo Ponti… and why she stayed loyal for life. The rare details are in the article below
Sophia Loren’s legendary marriage to producer Carlo Ponti, who was 22 years her senior, has long fascinated fans. Now, their son is shedding light on the bond that held them together for decades.
The iconic Italian actress, now 90, rose from a childhood of poverty near Naples. Raised by a single mother, Sophia faced hardships early on. At just 16, her mother Romilda brought her to Rome in hopes of securing financial help from Loren’s estranged father. When he refused, Romilda returned home – but Sophia stayed behind, determined to build a future on her own.
Her younger son, 52-year-old director Edoardo Ponti, reflected on that chapter of her life in a recent interview.
“Imagine a 16-year-old today telling her mother, ‘You go, I’m staying,” he said. “It’s almost unthinkable. Every character my mother has played on screen is laced with her real-life trauma – there’s no doubt. She knew that poverty could be gold for an artist. The uncertainty, the hunger, the struggle it created a rich inner world. She understood what it meant to serve something bigger her characters, her directors. She was never a diva. She was a team player.”
Loren met Carlo Ponti at a beauty pageant when she was 16 and he was 37. Despite the significant age gap, the connection was immediate. Edoardo revealed that for his mother, Ponti was more than a romantic partner – he gave her something she never had.
“He provided a sense of safety, of protection. Beyond love and attraction, that stability meant everything to her,” he told The Times.
Their relationship began in 1954 while filming The River Girl. But Ponti was still married to his first wife, Giuliana Fiastri, and as a Catholic in Italy, divorce was not legally possible. The couple married in secret in Mexico, but faced legal challenges back home, where bigamy and cohabitation were considered criminal offenses. The marriage was annulled in 1962 to avoid prosecution.
Eventually, Ponti arranged for Giuliana, Loren, and himself to relocate to France and obtain citizenship there. Giuliana agreed to a divorce under French law, and in 1966, Sophia and Carlo were legally wed.
Motherhood didn’t come easily for Loren. She suffered two miscarriages and endured years of fertility treatments before welcoming her first son, Carlo Jr., in 1968. Four years later, Edoardo was born. Over the decades, Ponti helped shape Loren’s career, elevating her to international stardom and establishing her as a symbol of timeless beauty and grace. The couple remained devoted to each other until Carlo’s death in 2007 at the age of 94, following complications from a lung condition.
In her memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life, Loren described Carlo as both a life partner and a father figure.
“I was so happy to have someone beside me who knew how to talk to me, who could give me advice and guide me through my early career decisions,” she wrote. “I tried to move forward without making missteps, and having Carlo by my side gave me that grounding. He had a fatherly presence – something I never experienced as a child. He gave me roots, and that stability kept me grounded while the world around me spun in a whirlwind.”
Today, Loren still lives in Geneva, Switzerland, where she and Ponti settled and raised their sons. Though her four grandchildren live in California, she keeps in close contact through daily video calls.
“My outlook on life is simple,” Loren shared. “I celebrate every joyful update my children share with me. The beauty of my grandchildren brings me so much happiness even from afar.”
