William Shakespeare once mused that “the course of true love never did run smooth.” This seems to be the case with Sophia Loren and her husband of 50 years, Carlo Ponti. They did appear to get a happy ending though, even if it wasn’t easy at first.
They first met when Sophia was 16 years old. Carlo was 36. He encouraged Sophia to participate in a beauty pageant. At first, they were just friendly. Carlo was already married.
Time passed and sparks flew on the film set for Woman Of The River. Sophia was now 19 years old. Carlo was still married. Sophia opened up about this in her memoir, Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow: My Life. "There was something fatherly about his presence, too, and I'd never had a real father," she recalled.
It is believed they got secretly engaged at this time. They were private because Carlo needed to get a divorce, which was tricky in conservative Italy. They were married by proxy in Mexico in 1957 but this marriage only lasted five years because Carlo faced charges of bigamy. They got it annulled. They married again in 1965 after Carlo was able to get a legal divorce. They would go on to have two children, Carlo Jr. and Edoardo.
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Sophia and Carlo were together until his death in 2007 at the age of 94. Sophia misses him every day. "I was very sad when my husband died, because you can never get over this kind of feeling,” she told AARP. "Never. Each time you think about it, there's a moment of the loneliness, which is very strong, but that's life.”
