Sophia Loren is resting up after leg and hip surgery: ‘Thanks for all the affection, I’m better’

Sophia Loren is thanking fans for all the affection she has received after having surgery to repair her broken hip and leg.

Loren suffered a nasty fall at her Swiss villa near Lake Geneva on Sunday. The film star fractured a hip and a thigh bone as a result and underwent surgery that same day.

The “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow� star’s agent, Andrea Giusti, released a statement from the actor on Tuesday, saying, “I thank everyone for the closeness and affection that they are showing me. I am better, just have to do rehabilitation and give myself a period of rest.�

The movie legend, 89, has resided in Switzerland for decades. Earlier this month, she made headlines when she attended Giorgio Armani’s couture fashion show during the 80th Venice International Film Festival and sat in the front row in a regal ivory pantsuit.

Per Giusti, the procedure “went very well.�

There is currently no timetable for when Loren will be discharged from the hospital.

Loren’s sons, Carlo and Edoardo Ponti, have been by her side as she recovers at the hospital, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Born Sofia Scicolone in Rome in 1934, she grew up in the Pozzuoli slums during World War II. Loren splashed onto the Hollywood scene in 1951, at age 16. She won the Academy Award for best actress for her performance as Cesira in Vittorio De Sica’s 1960 war drama “Two Women.� It was the first acting win for a non-English-language role.

“You know, I was raised during the war, and the only thing we dreamed about was to make it through the next day,� Loren said while accepting an award from AFI in 2014. “I tried to use the miseries that everybody was going through during the war into something positive. I think maybe one day I would find something else.�

In 2020, Loren starred in “The Life Ahead,� which was directed by her son Edoardo, as a Holocaust survivor who cares for the children of prostitutes.

“In the beginning of my career, I had done so many films that were incredible. But I also did two children, of course — Carlo and Edoardo — and I said to myself, ‘What about my family?’ I did stop [making movies],� she told The Times in 2021. “Then when Edoardo came with this book, I said, ‘Now is the time to start’ — not start all over again, but time to do what you always thought you wanted to do: See your family, be with your family, and then also do the film of your life.�

Times staff writer Carlos De Loera and the Associated Press contributed to this report.