We can’t avert our eyes either, Sophia Loren.
In a recent interview, the Hollywood legend addressed her infamous — and apparently judgmental — side-eyed gaze down Jayne Mansfield’s dress in an equally iconic photo. As Loren remembered it, Paramount had organized a party for her; Mansfield was the last to arrive.
“She came right for my table,” Loren recalled in an EW interview. “She knew everyone was watching. She sat down. And now, she was barely … Listen. Look at the picture. Where are my eyes? I’m staring at her nipples because I am afraid they are about to come onto my plate. In my face you can see the fear. I’m so frightened that everything in her dress is going to blow — Boom! — and spill all over the table.”
When asked about other, lighter-hearted images from the same night, Loren said: “This is the one that shows how it was. This is the only picture.”
Loren also told the publication that “many, many times” fans ask her to sign the famous photo, but she always declines.
“I don’t want to have anything to do with that,” Loren said. “And also out of respect for Jayne Mansfield because she’s not with us anymore.”