Sophia Loren? Sophia Bush? Sofia Scicolone? Apocryphal?
Question for Quote Investigator: A person in the public eye was asked about dieting to remain svelte, and the fun-loving reply highlighted the importance of taking pleasure in life:
I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size zero.
This statement has been attributed to two popular performers: Sophia Loren and Sophia Bush. Would you please explore this topic and determine whether either of these women delivered this refreshing remark?
Reply from Quote Investigator: In 2007 “People” magazine published a piece titled “3 Questions For Sophia Bush”. The following was the third question and reply. Boldface added to excerpts by QI:1
HOW DO YOU DEAL WITH PRESSURE TO BE THIN?
Life is too short and I’m Italian. I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.
Size zero is a small clothing size for women in the U.S. QI believes Sophia Bush is the most likely creator of this quotation. She appeared in the television series “One Tree Hill” (2003-2012) and “Chicago P.D.” (2014-2017). She also appeared in the movies “The Hitcher” (2007), “Chalet Girl” (2011), and “Marshall” (2017).
QI has found no substantive support for the attribution to Sophia Loren (stage name of Sofia Scicolone). This mistake fits a known error mechanism in which an attribution jumps from one person to another person with a similar name. This error is more likely to occur when the latter person is more famous like Loren who starred in many movies including: “Houseboat” (1958), “Two Women” (1961), “El Cid” (1961), “Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow” (1963), “Arabesque” 1966, and “Pret-a-Porter” (1994).
Below are additional selected citations in chronological order.
In 2009 “People” magazine published a brief interview with the movie star Channing Tatum during which Tatum made a similar comment about eating food items he enjoys:2
YOU’RE ULTRA-BUFF IN THIS FILM!
When I’m on, I work really hard—I’ll do three-a-day workouts. But as soon as I’m done with a movie, I go for the beer and cheeseburgers. Life is too short to miss out on the beautiful things like a double cheeseburger.
In 2014 Steff Deschenes published a calendar book titled “Eat the Year: 366 Fun and Fabulous Food Holidays To Celebrate Every Day”. The date of July 7 was designated National Macaroni Day, and the following quotation appeared:3
“Life is too short, and I’m Italian. I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size zero.” —Sophia Bush
In October 2014 columnist Angela Folds of “The Tennessean” in Nashville, Tennessee wrote a piece titled “Life’s too short, and you’re too awesome”. Folds printed the quotations from Bush and Tatum:4
“Life is too short, and I’m Italian. I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size zero.” -Sophia Bush
“Life is too short to miss out on the beautiful things, like a double cheeseburger.” -Channing Tatum
In 2018 the “Victoria Advocate” of Victoria, Texas published an article by Katherine Pope which credited Sophia Loren instead of Sophia Bush:5
Now that I can whip up fresh pasta anytime, I’m going to have to keep the immortal words of Sophia Loren tattooed on my brain, “I’d much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.”
In 2022 Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse published “Storytelling Legacy: Everyone Has Stories” which included the following freestanding quotation and ascription:6
“I would much rather eat pasta and drink wine than be a size 0.”
-Sophia Loren
In summary, QI believes that this quotation should be credited to Sophia Bush. A journalist for “People” magazine recorded her remark in 2007. QI conjectures that inattentiveness or a faulty memory caused someone to incorrectly reassign the quotation from Sophia Bush to Sophia Loren. Subsequently, many others have repeated the misattribution.
Image Notes: Picture of pasta and wine from Brooke Lark at Unsplash. The image has been cropped and resized.
Acknowledgement: Great thanks to Grzegorz Kapelak whose inquiry led QI to formulate this question and perform this exploration.
- 2007 May 14, People, Volume 67, Number 19, 3 Questions For Sophia Bush, Quote Page 174, Column 1, Time Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2009 May 4, People, Volume 71, Number 17, Channing Tatum Throws the First Punch, Quote Page 32, Time Inc., New York. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2014 Copyright, Eat the Year: 366 Fun and Fabulous Food Holidays To Celebrate Every Day by Steff Deschenes, Date: July 07 National Macaroni Day, Quote Page 220, Running Press Book Publishers, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Verified with scans) ↩︎
- 2014 October 5, The Tennessean, Life’s too short, and you’re too awesome by Angela Folds, Quote Page 5W, Column 6, Nashville, Tennessee. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2018 July 25, Victoria Advocate, Use Your Noodle (continuation title Noodle) by Katherine Pope, Start Page D1, Quote Page D4, Column 2, Victoria, Texas. (Newspapers_com) ↩︎
- 2022, Storytelling Legacy: Everyone Has Stories by Sharon Wegscheider-Cruse, Chapter One: Celebrities, Quote Page 30, Health Communications Inc., Boca Raton, Florida. (Verified with scans) ↩︎