My Mother,ISABELLA

ROSSELLINI

BERGMANINGRID

My Mother,

To the world she was In-grid Bergman, a luminousHollywood icon and rebelwho declared, “I havenever regretted what I

did. I regret things I didn’t do.” Butto Isabella Rossellini, the three-timeOscar winner was “Mama,” a lovingbut complicated figure who, 33 yearsafter her death, looms large. “Mamawould have been 100 this year,” saysRossellini, smiling over a plate of Swed-ish meatballs in the elegant restaurantof Manhattan’s Scandinavia House. “Shewas big on birthdays. She always cele-

brated them very big. So I thinkshe would have liked this one.”

At 63, Rossellini has had a cel-ebrated career—as an actress,filmmaker, author and model.Now just four years youngerthan her own mother was whenshe died in 1982, she’s embracedanewrole:keeperofalegacy.For

Bergman’s centennial, she has led trib-utes at the Cannes Film Festival, Brook-lyn Academy of Music and London’sRoyal Festival Hall. She also appears inIngrid Bergman: In Her Own Words,a newdocumentary featuring never-before-seen home movies. The festivities arefitting for an icon who defied easy defi-nition. As Bergman wrote in her diary,“I’ve gone from saint to whore, and backto saint again, all in the same lifetime.”

Born in Stockholm, Bergman becamea star in films such as Casablanca, TheBells of Saint Mary’s and Alfred Hitch-cock’sNotorious.But in 1949 the actress,then married to physician Petter Lind-strom, with a daughter, Pia, fell in love

THROUGH SUCCESS AND SCANDAL, THE HOLLYWOOD LEGENDTAUGHT HER DAUGHTER TO EMBRACE LIFE—AND TAKE RISKS

By MARY GREEN

107 PEOPLE December 14, 2015

| Photograph by RYAN PFLUGER

‘She followedwhat she

loved. It was awonderful lesson

for me’

A FAMILY UNITEDAt 18, Bergman’s daughter

Pia Lindstrom (left, in Italy in1957), raised by father Petter

after a custody battle, reunitedwith her mom and siblings.

A STAR IN EXILEAfter leaving

Hollywood for Europe,Bergman gave birthto twins Ingrid and

Isabella in 1952. Alongwith brother Roberto

and half sister Pia,Isabella says, “all fourof us are still close.”

HERE’S LOOKING AT YOU, KIDS“I had a very happy childhood,” says

Isabella (with her parents and siblingsin 1956). “We did lots of things thatwere adventurous and interesting.”

with Italian director Roberto Rossellini whilefilming Stromboli. Bergman got pregnant witha son, Roberto, and was denounced on the U.S.Senate floor for immorality. She left Hollywoodfor Europe. “My mother was not able to see Pia formany years because of the divorce,” says Isabella.“It was totally traumatic.”

After seven years together, Bergman andRossellini divorced. Both soon remarried (Berg-man to theater producer Lars Schmidt), and theirthree children, Roberto, Isabella and her twinsister, Ingrid, lived in a neutral home in Rome,visited by both parents. Bergman lived mainly inParis, but when she visited the children, “We hada regular life. We took the bus. Mama went shop-ping,” says Isabella. But she stayed out of thekitchen, Isabella notes, laughing: “She was a hor-rible cook.” Still Bergman made her presencecount. “I was 12 years old when I was diagnosedwith scoliosis. I was operated on when I was 13,”she says. “My mother stopped working for twoyears to be with me every day while I was ill.”

When Bergman was diagnosed with breastcancer in 1975, she hid her illness from the pub-lic for years and continued to act, turning inmemorable performances in films such as theOscar-nominated Autumn Sonata. “She workeduntil the end despite being sick and in pain,” saysIsabella. “Like my siblings, I would have lovedto have had more of my mother. She died whenI had just turned 30. I would have loved for mychildren Roberto and Elettra to meet her, but shewas dead by the time they were born.”

Bergman’s greatest gift, says Isabella, “was en-

couraging us to follow what we love. She followedwhat she loved. It was a wonderful lesson.” Isabel-la embraced it, earning acclaim in movies suchas Blue Velvet. (She was married twice, to MartinScorsese and tech executive Jon Wiedemann.)She’s having a busy year, presiding over a jury inCannes, performing her stage playGreen Porno inNorth Carolina on Dec. 5 and playing Robert DeNiro’s girlfriend in the buzzed about movie Joy(out Dec. 25), starring Jennifer Lawrence.

Isabella, who also co-edited a new book,Ingrid Bergman: A Life in Pictures, says she under-stands her mother better with time. Bergman’sown parents died when she was a child, “andI think when she went to acting school, she foundthe joy of life,” Isabella says. “She was one of thefirst women thought to have a full career, and shepaid a very heavy price for it. She always felt ifshe couldn’t act, she couldn’t breathe.”•

109 PEOPLE December 14, 2015

PASSING THETORCH

Bergman urgedIsabella to costarwith her in 1976’sA Matter of Time:

“She said it seemedabsurd I wasn’t goingto take the adventure

offered to me.”

ISABELLA NOWShe costars with

friend RobertDe Niro in Joy. “He’sso shy, like my mom,and very kind,” shesays. Her daughter

Elettra (right), 32, isa writer and model;

son Roberto, 22,is a photographer.

NEXT STEPSIsabella (with her mother

in Rome in 1971) didn’twant to pursue acting at

first: “Mama of course casta very big shadow.”

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