The true story about the ‘Angelina Jolie-lookalike’

We’ve written a lot in the past about people who would do anything to achieve their dream look.

Suffice it to say that Sahar Tabar from Teheran has taken things one step further.

The Iranian Instagrammer, who calls herself Sahar Tabar, gained massive online fame and caused quite the stir after sharing some pictures of herself back in 2017. The photos Shahar shared were drastically different from anything you normally see online – and shocked a lot of people.

According to Turkish media, she’s had more than 50 plastic surgeries, as well as lost 90 pounds in order to obtain the look she wants.

More than 400,000 people soon started following Sahar’s transformation on Instagram – and she made sure to keep everyone updated on her progress.

As she became world-famous, a local newspaper wrote that Sahar Tabar had only one dream with her transformation: To look like the actress Angelina Jolie.

But according to Sahar, whose real name is Fatemah Khishvand, that was never her goal. The Angelina rumor was not true; it wasn’t her intention to look like the Hollywood megastar. Others thought Sahar looked like Emily the Corpse Bride, a character in Tim Burton’s stop-motion movie Corpse Bride.

“I had no interest at all to be like Angelina Jolie, and I did not want to look like the character from “Corpse Bride”. I understand that I do have some similarities with them, but I am my own muse and I did not want to look like anyone. That was not my aim,” Sahar told Sputnik News in 2017.

Sahar also said that her photos were a form of art and that she loved playing with makeup and photo editing. Over the years, she has done Rhinoplasty, Botox for lips, and liposuction operations.

Iran has a thriving plastic surgery industry – the country has the highest rate of nose surgery in the world. It’s been very popular with young Iranians for decades, and for Sahar, who dreamed of becoming famous, it was easy to turn to cosmetic surgery for attention. Even though her mom hated it, Sahar persisted in building her Instagram fame.

“I don’t see anything bad in this. It’s simple and many people around the world do it. Here in Tehran the cost of one operation is 10 million Iranian rials ($283),” Sahar said.

She posted one extreme picture after another, and her following only grew. Finally, some of the most prominent newspapers in the world picked up her story, and Sahar became a massive name in her home country.

“People react normally when I appear in the city. They recognize me, call out my name, talk to me and hug me. They support me and I don’t feel any negativity from them,” she said in 2017.

Of course, some were of the opinion that Sahar had gone too far with changing her appearance. Many thought she looked much better before all the surgeries.

“For me the most important thing is to have the acceptance of my family and God. I have those and that is enough for me. Opinions from the rest of the world are not important, I ignore their negativity,” Sahar explained.

But it seems the Iranian regime and lawmakers were less pleased with Sahar and her newfound celebrity status.

In October 2019, she was arrested and put on trial. Her Instagram account was deleted and she was accused of “corruption” and “blasphemy”. In December 2020, she was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

An Iranian human rights activist, Masih Alinejad, then called out for help.

“Sahar Tabar is only 19. Her joke landed her in jail.

“Her mother cries every day to get her innocent daughter freed. Dear Angelina Jolie, we need your voice here. Help us.”

Then something unexpected happened. After just 14 months, Sahar was released from prison. Right now is a turbulent time in Iran, with widespread protests triggered by the death of Mahsa Amini. That may have prompted the regime to release Sahar earlier. According to Sahar, the judge had agreed to convert the arrest order into a bail order.

After being released from jail, Sahar made a TV appearance and showed her natural face. She revealed that she had undergone several cosmetic procedures – but confessed and said that many of the infamous images that made her famous resulted from make-up and editing in Photoshop.

Sahar’s official Instagram account, @sahartabar_official, is still deactivated but there are several other social media accounts that still post old and new pictures of her.

I’m not one to judge others. People are free to be who they want to be and look however they want to be.

In Sahar’s case, it seems there’s a lot more to the story than just some eyebrow-raising pictures, and I really hope she is out of trouble for them now!