Sophia Loren was the guest of honour of MSC Cruises in attendence to officially name and Christen the MSC Grandiosa, the largest ship to join MSC Cruises fleet. The naming ceremony celebrations took place in Hamburg, Germany, in which Sophia Loren is the godmother to MSC Cruises fleet and MSC Grandiosa was to be awarded the same honour.

Prior to the ceromony taking place we were given the opportunity to spend some time talking to a Hollywood icon

As one of the last surviving stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood – a term used to describe the classical Hollywood period of film between 1917 and 1969 - you would think Sofia Villani Scicolone, aka Sophia Loren, would know all about the era…

“What do you mean, ‘Golden Age’?” she asked Female First, when we sat down for an exclusive chat with the world-renowned actress. “The Golden Age of movies, going back 50-60 years ago…”

“I was not born then,” she quipped. “That was not me!”

Spoken with a chuckle, it’s fair to say Loren is a woman who knows how to keep us reporters on our toes.

“I love English accents,” she told our reporter Sue. “I just love them; I am fascinated by them.” It’s also fair to say she knows exactly how to charm your socks off.

Having been a part of the industry for a number of decades, Loren is surely somebody who knows a thing or two about how things work, and how the landscape is changing in today’s world of equality, the #MeToo movement, and so forth.

“It does change as life changes,” she explains. “Then in the movies, you do things that you are accustomed to… To face the life as it is today? It changes completely, sometimes.”

That wisdom isn’t something she’s going to be sharing with the younger generation, however. Asked if she had one piece of integral advice for any young women hoping to carve out a career in acting, she joked: “I wouldn’t tell! I would keep that to myself.”

Loren was a little more forthcoming when speaking about her own children, and how she managed to keep working and remain successful in the industry as a mother.

“I was in the movies a long time before I had children, a long time before”, she explained. “I started in the movies when I was 16-years-old; at 16 I didn’t have children. It’s something that comes in time with life stories and falling in love; it was a wonderful, wonderful time for teenagers. To be in films and to have parts it’s the ideal thing to do, so just go for it, you can do it! Just close your eyes and dream.”

As for her most significant lesson, working as an actor?

“You know, just to live. It’s a wonderful lesson to go and do the right things that you want to do. Sometimes it’s very hard and other times it is quite easy, but not often!”

Sophia Loren spoke to Female First aboard MSC's latest cruise ship, the MSC Grandiosa, for which she serves as the Godmother. 

MORE: We review the MSC Grandiosa

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