How Many Grandchildren Does Sophia Loren Have?

If juggling a highly demanding career and family is a struggle for women today, the challenge was certainly not easier in the '60s. However, Sophia Loren managed to prioritize both. A major figure in the Golden Age of Hollywood, Loren made history when she won an Oscar for the 1960 Italian picture "Two Women," becoming the first actor to win with a foreign-language film, the Academy Awards website highlighted. At the height of her fame, Loren showed she wasn't afraid to follow her heart — even if it meant risking it all.

In 1957, Loren married producer Carlo Ponti, who was still legally married to his first wife, making him an accused bigamist, the New York Times reported. The relationship between Loren and Ponti, who was 22 years her senior and met her when she was 15, was already a favorite media subject, Fox News noted. News of their secret marriage in Mexico did nothing to make it more appealing. But the two were set on being together, so they moved to France to live in exile.

To avoid charges, they had their union annulled five years later. Loren and Ponti married, legally this time, in France in 1966, after he obtained a divorce, the New York Times noted. While Loren and Ponti risked quite a bit for their romance, their love burned strong until his January 2007 death at 94. She had no regrets. With Ponti, Loren built a family that she was equally willing to sacrifice everything else for.

Sophia Loren and Carlo Ponti had two sons together. Carlo Ponti Jr. was born in December 1968 and Edoardo Ponti in January 1973, according to Biography. Her eldest, who went on to become an acclaimed conductor, married Hungarian violinist Andrea Meszaros in Budapest in 2004, per WireImage. Carlo Jr. and Meszaros expanded their family three years later, welcoming their son Vittorio Leone in 2007, The San Bernardino Sun reported. In 2012, the couple welcomed a daughter, Beatrice Lara. 

Loren and Carlo Sr.'s youngest son, Edoardo, followed in his father's footsteps, pursuing a career as a film director. While in film school, Edoardo crossed paths with "NCIS" alum Sasha Alexander, which makes Loren her mother-in-law, according to the University of Southern California website. The "Rizzoli & Isles" star and Edoardo married in 2007, a little over a year after welcoming their daughter, Lucia Sofia, who was also Loren's first grandchild, People reported.

The girl was named after her paternal grandmother, whose name is originally spelled with an F, the report pointed out. Edoardo and Alexander added a second child to the brood in 2010, a son named Leonardo Fortunato, TV Guide reported. All four of Loren's grandchildren were born in Geneva, Switzerland, where she lives. The role of nonna fit her from the get-go. "I live for my family. I have the most beautiful grandchildren that I've ever seen in my life," she said on "Today" in 2016. 

Sophia Loren became pregnant with Carlo Ponti Jr. in her mid-30s, when her career was already established. But that wasn't the original plan. Before having her first son, Loren had gone through several miscarriages, The New York Times reported in 1973. "By the time I reached the age of 29, my desire to have children had become an obsession," she wrote in a 2014 essay for the Daily Mail. "I simply loved children."

When she achieved her most sought-after goal, Loren cared very little about any consequences it might have produced. "If necessary, I would have given up my work to have a child," she wrote in her 1984 memoir "Women And Beauty" (via Closer Weekly). Her feelings remained unchanged after welcoming her sons. "Motherhood is the greatest role of my life," she penned. "Nothing, not even winning an Oscar, can compete with the pleasure and sense of accomplishment it has given me."

Loren's devotion resulted in a deep bond carried into their adulthood, which both Carlo and Edoardo often display on social media. "I could not be the musician I am today without her, and my wonderful late father's and talented brother's love, support and inspiration!!!" Carlo gushed in a May 2022 Instagram post. And Loren is excited to reconnect with her inner child through her grandchildren. "I have two beautiful children and they gave me grandchildren, so I'm surrounded by great love every day," she told the Financial Times in 2020.