The influencer who gained notoriety on social media as "Zombie Angelina Jolie" was actually arrested back in 2019.
Sahar Tabar, whose real name is Fatemeh Khishvand, became an overnight global sensation in 2017 after posting images of herself with sunken cheeks, bulging eyes, and a cartoonishly distorted face.
A look that some believed was the result of dozens of cosmetic surgeries to mimic the Hollywood actress.
Sahar’s rise to fame was fueled by her bizarre and haunting photos, which led many to believe she’d gone through extreme plastic surgery to achieve her look - rumors that continued to snowball as it was increasingly difficult to prove otherwise.
“With sunken cheeks, a massively plumped up smile and a cartoonishly turned-up nose, she has caused concern over the dozens of cosmetic surgeries she said she had undertaken to resemble the American star,” reported the BBC.
The New York Post once said she claimed to have undergone “50 surgeries,” a number that captured media attention and public intrigue worldwide.
However, the truth behind her appearance was far less dramatic and much, much cheaper.
Sahar later admitted that her look was nothing more than an elaborate art project. “Cyberspace was an easy way,” she said. “It was much easier than becoming an actor.”
She explained her use of make-up and Photoshop in an interview with Sputnik, saying she edited the images to “amuse” herself and that the look was “a form of self-expression.”
Tabar's Instagram has now been deleted. Credit: Instagram / sahartabar_official
Her fame, however, came with a price.
In October 2019, Sahar was arrested by Iranian authorities in a crackdown on online influencers.
At just 19 years old, she was accused of a string of serious charges: blasphemy, instigating violence, illegally acquiring property, insulting the country's dress code, and encouraging young people to commit corruption, according to Iran’s Tasnim News Agency.
Her Instagram was promptly deleted, and the arrest sparked a wave of public reaction. One sarcastic tweet at the time suggested she should have chosen “less incendiary pursuits, such as embezzlement and murder.”
In December 2020, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison for “corruption of young people and disrespect for the Islamic Republic,” The Guardian reported.
But she didn’t serve the full sentence.
Following an international outcry and what activist Masih Alinejad described as “massive media pressure,” Sahar was released after just 15 months behind bars.
"Today the Iranian teenager who posted heavily distorted images of herself online was jailed for 10 years has been freed after massive media pressure," Alinejad tweeted.
Her lawyer, Saied Dehgan, confirmed to The Sun that she had been freed, and efforts had previously been made to secure her release after she contracted Covid while in jail, according to BBC News.
Soon after her release, Sahar appeared on Iranian state-owned channel Rokna, where her real appearance stunned viewers who had only ever seen the ghost-like persona she had carefully crafted online.
Reactions flooded social media after her TV appearance.
“Wow! It’s so sad what lengths people would go to for fame…” one person wrote.
Another added: “It’s amazing how many people put so much thought into what other people are doing to be comfortable in their own skin.”