Iran's 'Zombie Angelina Jolie' shows real face; says viral look was a hoax, not the result of botched surgery
An Iranian woman, who was jailed after she claimed to have had 50 surgeries to look like Angelina Jolie has been released and revealed that the look was a hoax done through makeup and editing.
Iran’s Sahar Tabar gained notoriety in 2019 after she underwent plastic surgery to look like Angeline Jolie but the procedures left her looking like a very emaciated and creepy version of the popular actor. Later that year, Sahar was arrested and jailed for ten years under Iran’s strict blasphemy laws. The 21-year-old has now been released and she recently revealed her real face in a new interview. Also read: ‘Angelina Jolie lookalike’ Sahar Tabar sentenced to 10 years in jail in Iran, for ‘corrupting youth’
Sahar was arrested in October 2019 on the charges of corruption and blasphemy and sentenced to ten years in prison. A report by The Independent quoted activist Masih Alinejad as saying that she was eventually released after just 14 months in jail though.
The activist revealed that Sahar’s look was not due to any botched plastic surgery but it was all a joke. “Sahar Tabar is only 19. Her joke landed her in jail. Her mother cries every day to get her innocent daughter freed. Dear Angelina Jolie, we need your voice here,” they had written last year. Sahar, whose real name is Fatemah Khishvand, was released amid widespread protests for women’s rights in the country.
In a new TV interview, she revealed her real face and said the look she had presented earlier was just make-up and Photoshop. She said she wanted to grow her Instagram following. “Cyberspace was an easy way,” she said. “It was much easier than becoming an actor.” The 21-year-old said she had underwent some cosmetic procedures like getting a nose job and lip fillers but the popular viral image of her was heavily Photoshopped. She had earlier claimed that the look was a result of ’50 cosmetic surgeries’.
Interestingly, Sahar had admitted to the hoax back in 2017 while speaking with Russian news portal Sputnik, where she said she often altered pictures to amuse herself.