A moment from Lorraine Bracco’s childhood has stuck with her for more than five decades.
Before she moved to Paris to become a model, which led to her acting career and her breakout role in Goodfellas, Bracco, 70, grew up in Brooklyn as a “tall and gawky” kid, and the comments some of her classmates made to her one day have never left her mind.
“One day, kids on the school bus told me something that stuck with me for life. They said they had voted me the ugliest girl in sixth grade,” the Sopranos star recalled in an essay for the Wall Street Journal.
“Can you imagine? I was in shock. It was horrible and devastating — a deep wound. I went home and sobbed and sobbed and sobbed.”
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Bracco also has a clear memory of the reaction that the comment elicited from her father.
He asked her what happened, and in response, “sat me on his lap, put his hands on my face and made me look in his eyes. He said, ‘I don’t care about them. You’re the most beautiful girl in the world to me.'”
Jean-Louis URLI/Gamma-Rapho via Getty
Lorraine Bracco in 1980.
She recalled school in her younger years as “challenging socially,” but she “loved performing” and found school plays to be “an expression and an outlet for me.”
Related: Sopranos Star Lorraine Bracco Rocks Gray Hair at Emmys Days After Sharing She Doesn’t Miss the Salon
When she later went on to pursue modeling — she was signed by Wilhelmina after high school and moved to Paris for a decade — which in turn spurred her career-launching gig in Goodfellas in 1990, but the sixth-grade comment remained top of mind despite the success.
“As for that childhood insult, it stuck with me for a long time,” she recalled. “Early in my modeling career, when Revlon offered me a campaign, I said to myself, ‘I can’t do this. I was the ugliest girl in sixth grade.'”
Bracco has always been open about her life experiences. Last month, she reflected on how she “lost a year of my life to depression” after her messy divorce from Harvey Kietel.
“My advice to anyone going through it is get a good doctor, get diagnosed, and know that pharmacology works — don’t be afraid of it,” she told AARP. “The stigma of it stopped me at first. Stupid. And talk therapy is major. You’re worth it, you’re worth having a good day, every day.”
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Now, the Nonnas star said she’s “sure of myself” — and she wants a partner again.
“I’m single, and I’m sure someone will arrive,” she told the outlet. “I believe in love. What do I look for in a man? A sense of humor is extremely important. And I like a guy who’s sure of himself. I’m sure of myself, so I want him to be rock steady,”
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