Even over 40 years after her death, Ingrid Bergman remains a Hollywood icon. She is recognized as a Hollywood legend and the actress of the classic film Casablanca. She frequently appeared with Hollywood heavyweights such as Humphrey Bogart and Clark Gable. Bergman’s career was nearly damaged by her personal life, which may surprise admirers. The public was not very tolerant of controversy in the early days of Hollywood. Bergman’s career was nearly cut short because of intolerance when she had an affair with Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini.

At the age of 21, the Swedish actress married her first spouse, dentist Petter Lindström. Pia, the couple’s daughter, was born a year later, in 1938, and she is now 81 years old.

Bergman soared to A-list prominence in Hollywood in the 1940s, starring in some of the decade’s most important films. Bergman had affairs with actor Gregory Peck, war photographer Robert Capa, and filmmaker Victor Fleming amid this success. During this time, though, she remained married to Lindström.

The actress’s personal life did not make news until the late 1940s, when she had an affair with Italian filmmaker Roberto Rossellini. Bergman had traveled to Italy in 1949 to work with Rossellini on what would become a renowned trilogy of Italian art pictures.

That encounter sparked a year-long relationship that nearly ended Bergman’s career. Rossellini cast her in one of his films after meeting her. The movie Stromboli was shot in Italy.

Rossellini was divorced from Marcella de Marchis at the time, but had a public romance with the seductive actress Anna Magnani.

According to People magazine, her publicist issued a press release under her name on August 5, 1949, saying, “It was not my desire to make any statement until the conclusion of the picture I am now making. But persistent, malicious gossip, that has even reached the point where I am made to appear as a prisoner, has obliged me to break my silence and demonstrate my free will. I have instructed my lawyer to start divorce proceedings immediately. Also, with the conclusion of the picture it is my intention to retire into private life.”

The American gossip queen Hedda Hopper came to see for herself after hearing about her pregnancy in Italian tabloids. “Are you pregnant?” Hopper questioned bluntly at a lunch meeting with Bergman.

“Do I look it?” Bergman, who was tall and athletic, said, avoiding the subject.

Bergman later told the public she was pregnant with Rossellini’s kid before Stromboli was published, all while still married to Lindstrom.

The scandal was so notorious that a senator from the United States stepped to the Senate floor in 1950 to condemn the actress as a “powerful influence for evil.”

Stromboli, Bergman and Rossellini’s first picture, was released in 1950, and their first child, Renato, was born soon after. After Renato’s birth, Bergman divorced Lindström and married Rossellini a few months later. In 1952, the couple welcomed twin daughters Isotta Ingrid and Isabella Rossellini.

Despite the fact that the romance and subsequent marriage made headlines, Bergman’s marriage ended in divorce seven years later. Since Bergman’s first divorce, the tables had turned: Rossellini had started an affair with scriptwriter Sonali Das Guptas, which led to his divorce from Bergman in 1957.

The actress was unable to enter the United States until 1957, when morals began to shift and her career began to revive.

Hollywood couldn’t stop her when she wanted back in. After her annulment, she returned to star in Anastasia. Bergman’s first job after returning to Hollywood earned her her second Academy Award, as if to demonstrate her excellence.