Isabella Rossellini Heartbroken That Younger Generations ‘Don’t Know’ Her Famous Parents

Isabella Rossellini is the daughter of one of Classic Hollywood’s most famous couples, but she fears that younger generations will not remember the achievements of her parents, Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini.

“I used to be introduced as ‘Ingrid Bergman and Roberto Rossellini’s daughter,’ and it bothered me, because I would think, ‘I am my own person,’” Isabella, 72, said in an interview with Variety on Wednesday, September 4.

“But now, the younger generation doesn’t know them, and it breaks my heart. Their reputations outlived them, but fame is very brief,” she added.

The model also wrote about the topic in her 1997 memoir, Some of Me, asking readers, “Is being remembered a kind of antidote to death? Is fame a sort of eternity?”

Ingrid’s kids previously opened up to Closer about memories of their mom and her contributions to the film industry.

“She was one of those people who liked to put on the clothes and the makeup of another person,” Ingrid’s daughter Pia Lindström with ex-husband Petter Lindström said in February 2020. “When you become that person, you’re brave. But deep down, I think she was very frightened.”

Ingrid and Roberto were both wed to other partners when they began an affair while working together on the 1950 film Stromboli. She got pregnant with their son, Renato “Robin” Rossellini, and they both divorced their previous partners amid the scandal. Ingrid gave birth to Isabella and twin sister Isotta Rossellini in 1952.

Ingrid and Roberto wed in 1950, and their marriage lasted until 1957.

Isabella said that Ingrid and Roberto “loved each other immensely,” but “the exterior pressure was enormous,” after their affair. However, “they remained wonderful friends” in the years after their split.

Ingrid was married three times throughout her life, her last marriage being to Lars Schmidt, which lasted from 1958 to 1975. The Academy Award winner was diagnosed with cancer in 1974, and died on August 29, 1982.

“She was a very funny, warm and open person,” Pia told Closer. “Nobody ever disliked our mother.”

On the 40th anniversary of her mother’s death, Isabella remembered the Hollywood icon.

“If I could say anything to Mama, I would say, ‘Thank you.’ I think of her every day,” she said in August 2022. “When people pass, the relationship with the person remains at the moment when they passed. But they often don’t evolve. But for me — ‘as time goes by,’ to quote Casablanca, I find myself understanding Mama even more. The admiration for my mom has augmented.”

“Not admiration as an actress,” she explained. “That was always there, but just as a human being. I understood how hard she fought.”

Isabella followed in her mom’s footsteps, with a successful acting career and eventually becoming one of the faces of Lancôme.

“I got my first cover of Vogue in 1982, the year my mom died. She never saw my success as an actress. She was not with me when I had my own children or became a grandmother,” she reflected on her mother’s legacy. “I always loved my mom. I was never critical of her. She was always very independent and strong.”