Isabella Rossellini's Gorgeous Transformation Throughout Her Storied Career

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Isabella Rossellini's transformation is truly gorgeous. The star has long conquered the worlds of modeling and acting, and she's repeatedly used her platform to fight against discrimination and to be a beacon of natural aging. Speaking to Page Six about beauty house Lancôme's controversial decision to nix her as the face of their products when she was in her 40s (more to come on that), she made it clear she wouldn't be making herself appear younger — nor would she slink away quietly. "They explained to me that advertisement addresses the dream — and women dream to be young, not to grow old. Which might be a dream for some women, but I think the biggest dream for women is to grow old with beauty and dignity and elegance," she lamented.

But the star's relatability doesn't only stem from her desire to fight for inclusivity. She's been in the spotlight pretty much since the day she was born, and, time and time again, has proven the importance of following one's heart and getting back up after a knockdown. From her inspiring return as the face of Lancôme years ago and surviving sexual assault to a dramatic change from big city life to rural farm living, Rossellini serves as an empowering example of the importance of self-belief and staying true to oneself.

Isabella Rossellini and her twin sister Ingrid Rossellini entered the world famous thanks to their globally well-known parents, Oscar-winning Swedish actor Ingrid Bergman and Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. The twins were born in Rome, Italy, in 1952 — but not without controversy. Bergman was still legally married to Swedish surgeon Dr. Petter Lindstrom at the time, which raised a few eyebrows ("I think she was permanently scarred by the scandal in America," Rossellini told the Los Angeles Times about Bergman). Rossellini also told the Golden Globes she became aware of her mom and dad's global fame at a young age, but grew up thinking they were well-known because they were parents, not for their careers.

Rossellini's parents eventually married but divorced when the future model was young. After that, Rossellini started spending less time with her mom, who lived in Paris, and her dad, who stayed in Rome. She told The Guardian that, for two years, she and her two siblings (Rossellini also has a brother, Roberto Rossellini Jr.) lived in a hotel with the family's housekeeper and babysitters. "[Our parents] would come visit, but not live with us, on this sort of strange kibbutz we had made," she recalled.

Isabella Rossellini was around 14 when she had major surgery on her back following a scoliosis diagnosis (which refers to the spine becoming curved or twisted). The star reflected on the tough time on Instagram several decades later, sharing that she had 13 of her vertebrae fused. Rossellini told The Guardian she also had to spend six months on bed rest and wore a body cast for two years. Though scoliosis hindered her mobility as a teen, she noted, "I still had a career as model and actress and a very active life." But Rossellini's difficult early years continued when she was sexually assaulted in her mid-teens. The star has chosen not to publicly name her accuser and told Vulture in 2018 she had no plans to.

While growing up in '70s Italy, Rossellini became a staunch feminist and was part of a small, liberal group known as Piccolo Gruppo. "It was unbelievably powerful. Anything you said there would remain a secret, so you would say everything, you would confess everything, and you could see the commonality of problems," she recalled, sharing that she learned a lot from the group.

In 1971, Isabella Rossellini moved from Italy to New York after dropping out of school. She began working as an assistant to Italian journalist Gianni Minà. "It was the best job you could do. I learned problem-solving, research," she told Vulture, sharing that she interviewed the likes of director Martin Scorsese, whom she'd go on to marry. Her early days in New York also included working as a foreign correspondent on a spoof Italian news show alongside Italian actor and comedian Roberto Benigni.

The star broke into the modeling world a little later than most. She was 28 but quickly gained serious fame and landed several Vogue covers (by 2018, she'd appeared on the cover of the iconic fashion magazine 23 times). "When I began modeling, the only responsibility was to be beautiful — and anonymous," she recalled to Vulture. "You were the element for people to complete their fantasy of an ideal woman. I knew I was not an ideal woman, but I suggested something that allowed people to complete their fantasies," she added. Her success as a model soon blossomed into an acting career. Rossellini told Interview Magazine that she was encouraged to try acting by fashion photographer Richard Avedon, who pointed out that she already had her foot in the door by conveying emotions through her poses.

In 1976, Isabella Rossellini began her transition to a multi-hyphenate. She landed her first movie gig, a small role in the fantasy "A Matter of Time," alongside her mom Ingrid Bergman and Liza Minnelli. Three years later, the spotlight only intensified on the model-turned-actor when she tied the knot with Martin Scorsese. But that didn't last too long, and, by 1982, they'd split. Speaking to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Rossellini shared that they drifted apart while Scorsese was making the movie "The King of Comedy" while Bergman was ill. "It's strange that sometimes sorrow brings people together and sometimes it doesn't. I panicked and decided it would be better not to be married," she said. The Italian star also claimed the famed director had a fiery personality. "He never hit me or anything like that, but he could demolish a room," she claimed on the series "Mr. Scorsese" (via Metro).

But Rossellini's first divorce didn't slow her down. In 1983, she became the face of the beauty brand Lancôme, which made her the world's highest-paid model. She also gave marriage another shot. The star fell pregnant with her and Jonathan Wiedemann's daughter, Elettra-Ingrid Rossellini, while still legally married to Scorsese, before she and Wiedemann married in 1983. Her second marriage didn't last either, and she was divorced again by 1986. "I never thought I was going to get married. In fact, I only got married to Americans. Because they asked. Two weeks into dating them," Rossellini mused to the Los Angeles Times.

In 1986, Isabella Rossellini's movie career got more attention when she landed a role in the movie "Blue Velvet." However, she was dropped by her agent soon after and told Backstage that she spent months trying to hire a new one. The star also embarked on a serious romance with the movie's director, David Lynch, but they split in 1991. Rossellini eventually found more success in the movie world via the 1992 cult dark comedy "Death Becomes Her," which also starred Meryl Streep and Goldie Hawn — who has had an equally stunning Hollywood transformation. 

But despite major movies in Rossellini's repertoire and working with several A-Listers, she knew she could have been a bigger star on the big screen. She told Harper's Bazaar she didn't have a plan for how to make the most of the fame game, which may have stifled her star power. "I just did things that came my way that I was interested in. Maybe another, more traditional American actor would say, 'Oh, I don't know if it fits in my career plan,' but I didn't have ever in mind developing an image," she said. Rossellini appeared to have more of a plan when it came to life, though. In 1993, she became a mom again when she adopted a son named Roberto Rossellini.

In 1996, Isabella Rossellini's contract with Lancôme controversially ended. She claimed on multiple occasions that the decision was ageist. "They fired me because I was strong. They sent me so many flowers on my 40th birthday. It was a morgue. I knew I was dead. They said, 'Be grateful, Isabella. You're lucky you lasted so long in the business,'" she told New York. Rossellini also recalled her heartbroken reaction to The Guardian, sharing that she was particularly concerned because she was a single mom caring for two children. "I cried and was depressed, and I worried financially," she noted. But Rossellini hit back by changing her focus.

She attended New York University to study Animal Behavior, then studied at Hunter College and earned a Master's in Animal Conservation. Speaking at her graduation ceremony, Rossellini put her major lifestyle change down to the messages she was given by her late parents. "I decided not to worry about my career or my success, but to follow my curiosity," she said (via Page Six). The star also told Oprah.com that she decided to focus on her education with her children in mind, as studying allowed her to be home more.

Isabella Rossellini made another big career pivot in 2000. Still somewhat fresh from parting ways with Lancôme, she launched her own makeup line called Manifesto. She signed with beauty giant Coty in 1995, with initial plans to launch a skincare line and fragrance. The makeup collection was created to be ultra-inclusive to women of various skin tones, as well as older models, even those embracing their natural graying hair. "I always thought there was something offensive to take a white 20-year-old blonde and take her to represent all women," Rossellini told SF Gate.

She also designed the cosmetics with feminism in mind, as the pieces were small enough to fit in pockets (after all, not every woman carries a bag). They had multiple uses too, as Rossellini didn't want women to have to buy too many products. Sadly, the line folded in the U.S. in 2002 but stuck around a little longer in Europe. 

Rossellini addressed the Manifesto, saying she hadn't seen the success she'd hoped for in a 2006 interview with The Guardian. "It was a secret feminist plot I had! I thought it was important that women become the boss of companies," she said. "I mean, it worked, in that I had my own company, that I made money, but bringing my own ideas, a female model I had for how to change things about how business works, didn't work," she admitted, sharing that her focus had since shifted away from the beauty industry.

By 2008, Isabella Rossellini had taken her life in a surprising new direction. She created the web series "Green P**no," in which she often acted out animal mating rituals. The videos caused quite a stir, which Rossellini told The Cut she wasn't expecting. "It led to a new period. It was still very engaging even if it wasn't the big Hollywood movies. It gave me the feeling that there are new chapters. You can live in a different way," she said.

Part of living a different way includes swapping Hollywood for life on a farm. In 2013, the internationally recognizable superstar purchased Long Island's Mama Farm, 28 acres of land protected by a conservation easement. The no-slaughter farm, which also houses a bed and breakfast, serves as a nod to Rossellini's heritage as it's designed to look like an Italian piazza. Rossellini told Oliver Peoples that the move was at least partly inspired by her son. "He was having a difficult time in New York, and one day after school, he came home and told me, to my surprise, that he wanted to move to the countryside," she said, sharing that she'd adapted well to her new lifestyle. She'd also stopped considering herself an actor and told The Hollywood Reporter in 2012 that she thought of herself as an avant-garde filmmaker.

In the 2010s, Isabella Rossellini had largely stepped back from modeling and acting. But she couldn't help herself when Hollywood came calling, and she was offered a role in Jennifer Lawrence and Robert De Niro's Golden Globe-nominated drama "Joy." That meant temporarily leaving her Long Island life to film in Massachusetts. "All the people at the farm wondered where I was, because I was travelling again. For the moment, I try to manage it all, so we'll see how long it lasts, this burst of work," she told The Guardian at the time. 

Despite being open to new roles (if they were worth her time), Rossellini had reached a point in her transformation when she'd learned her career wasn't everything. "When you're young, there is so much pressure, because you work, you need money. As you grow older, the focus becomes clearer and clearer," the actor and model, who was 65 at the time, said.

Her stunning transformation had also involved becoming more comfortable with herself. She joked to Vulture that she'd learned to do whatever she wanted and no longer worried about telling people straight. Rossellini also suggested she was planning to wind down from her glittering career, telling The Guardian, "I feel that it's a story and this is the last chapter. It's a happy ending." But it was far from her last chapter.

In spite of the ageism that surrounded Isabella Rossellini's Lancôme drama in the '90s, the model and actor made a triumphant return as the company's ambassador in 2018. Her rehiring came as part of the beauty brand's push for more inclusion. Rossellini, who was in her 60s, admitted to The Cut that she was surprised, but didn't hesitate to work with the brand again. "The story I have with Lancôme feels like a romance or a novel. It's a beautiful new chapter," she said. The "Fearless" actor also revealed at a press event (via Harper's Bazaar U.K.) that it was Lancôme's general manager Françoise Lehmann who asked for her return after branding her initial firing a mistake.

But, sadly, Rossellini's new chapter wasn't all highs. While in her 60s, she had a second major scoliosis surgery. The Italian star shared on Instagram that she'd had 17 rods inserted into her back vertebrae. The surgery may have been down to a back injury, as she told The Guardian that she'd started training guide dogs but had fallen after one dog pulled on its leash. "I could have broken my back, so I thought, no more training big dogs!" she said, sharing that she'd instead started caring for pregnant dogs before their puppies go away for training.

In 2023, Isabella Rossellini shared her refreshing mantra on aging naturally and gracefully. "We all age. It's part of nature. I've never done any plastic surgery. If you do it, you might win a battle, but you lose the war," she told Page Six as she confronted aging with confidence. Amid her bid to let her face and body age without invasive treatments (unlike these stars who bared all about their plastic surgery procedures), she stepped back into the spotlight as an actor. 

Rossellini appeared alongside Ralph Fiennes and Stanley Tucci in the religious drama "Conclave," which earned the star her first Oscar nomination. She was 72 when she landed her nod in the Best Supporting Actress category, and again proved age is nothing but a number as she became a glamorous lady of old Hollywood who remained a red carpet mainstay in her 70s and beyond. 

Despite the success of "Conclave," Rossellini admitted she was contemplating officially walking away from acting to fully dedicate her time to Mama Farm. "I'd have to figure out how to make it all work financially because I am getting up there in age," she admitted to Vogue. "I'm happiest working on the farm with the sun shining on my face, so I want to spend more time doing that."

Despite Isabella Rossellini claiming she was seriously considering retirement, she wasn't ready to pull the plug on her acting career in 2026. She was back in front of the camera for the Ryan Murphy-created series "The Beauty." The FX drama put a major emphasis on its characters' looks ("The Beauty" is a disease changing people's appearances), which seemingly inspired Rossellini to get candid about her own experience with aesthetics over the years. "I spent all my life chasing beauty, perfection, diets, trainers, needles, scalpels, elixirs, cleansers. I thought it would make me feel good," she told People as she joined the ranks of celebs refusing to play by society's beauty rules. "Once I learned that beauty is the answer to nothing, I became the happiest I have ever been," the star, who was 73 at the time, added.

That retirement plan? It's still on hold. In May 2026, Rossellini was announced for a movie adaptation of Audrey Niffenegger's novel "Three Incestuous Sisters." The star also confirmed on Instagram the following month that she celebrated her 74th birthday while filming a project in her home country of Italy, making it clear she won't be fully leaving the spotlight anytime soon. And that's exactly how we like it.