Sophia Hadjipanteli - a model who has become an icon for challenging conventional beauty norms - has revealed that she has received death wishes from trolls because of her unibrow.
Hadjipanteli, 26, has amassed thousands of fans and supports on social media thanks to her bold and unconventional beauty. She is the driving force behind the #UnibrowMovement, a campaign promoting body positivity and acceptance of unique features - features that are often stigmatized by societal "normal" beauty standards.
Her empowering initiative has won her a following of half a million Instagram admirers, leading to collaborations with esteemed brands such as Hugo Boss, Jean Paul Gaultier, Louboutin, and Valentino.
Despite her incredible success, Sophia has had to navigate a barrage of negative comments. The London-based model and first-generation Greek Cypriot American recently opened up about her experiences in an interview with the Daily Star.
"I get hate comments every single day," Hadjipanteli admitted. "I don’t even keep track of them anymore because I do believe they are just not used to seeing someone accept and flaunt something that they believe is ‘textbook unattractive’."
She continued: “I think for many trolls, it bothers them to see me do something they could never do because of how conditioned they are to one form of beauty. People tell me to die so many times online, which is sad."
However, Sophia remains undeterred, hopeful about her impact on future beauty perceptions. "Ultimately if I am normalizing something like having a unibrow, then hopefully, one day, future generations won’t receive as harsh of criticism as I do now because it will be more common," she said.
Sophia asserts that her unibrow is not a publicity stunt but a genuine expression of her personal aesthetics. The backlash, she says, only propels her to push boundaries further.
"I don’t do this for attention; I do this because I like how it looks," she told the UK publication. "It just makes me want to be more out there to give them something to be annoyed about.”
Back in 2017, the former University of Maryland alum said that she attributes her notably thick brows to her Cypriot lineage and revealed how her family helped her find pride in her unibrow (which she has nicknamed “Veronika”).
In an interview with Harper's Bazaar, Sophia delved into the familial roots of her striking feature, saying: "If you’re in a family where your brother and dad also have really nice eyebrows, you’re never really self-conscious of having thick eyebrows."
She also revealed what it would take for her to finally pluck and tweeze her unibrow, to which she revealed: "Until people start to accept others for this specific feature on their face, I won't feel ready to move on from it."