PEOPLE's Beautiful Issue 2024: A Letter from the Editor

PEOPLE's Beautiful Issue cover star Sofía Vergara proves that beauty is knowing what you want

Sofía Vergara first captured America’s hearts  on Modern Family. As Gloria Delgado Pritchett, she showed us a mom who unabashedly supports her kids’ uniqueness  (weirdness!) and made us laugh with her unparalleled mix of biting sarcasm and go-for broke goofiness. “I’m not afraid to look silly  or dumb or ugly. That’s the way to do comedy. You cannot be thinking about whether your hair is perfect. If you can let go of your insecurities, you can be funny,” she said back in 2010, as the show was racking up ratings.

Letting go of your insecurities doesn’t just make it easier to be funny; it allows you to be brave and decisive. Sofía, who’s mom to Manolo, 32, has been honest that one of the reasons she and Joe Manganiello made the painful decision to divorce is because she didn’t want to have more kids. “I know what it means to be a good mother or to try to be the best mother that you can, and that takes a lot of sacrifices,” she told editor at large Julie Jordan. “I didn’t think because of my career, the way I live my life, the way my marriage was, that it was fair to bring [another] kid into this world.”

Related: Sofía Vergara Shares Rare Makeup-Free Selfie — Snapped from the Bathtub! 

In choosing to focus on her career, Sofía has found rewarding roles and new challenges. Her latest, a daring performance in Griselda on Netflix, will also likely lead to an Emmy nomination. I admit, when I first heard she’d  be playing Griselda Blanco, it didn’t seem like a casting fit. One of the most beautiful comedy stars taking on the role of a gritty Miami drug lord? But Sofía proved me wrong, very wrong. In this bold portrayal, she is almost unrecognizable (thanks to prosthetics) and channels some of her own personal experience dealing with the murder of her brother in her native Colombia.

Like so many of us, Sofía is at a transformational moment, and the way she is juggling it with honesty and humor makes her perfect for the cover of this year’s Beautiful Issue. She’s single again and “maybe” dating, taking new career risks and staring at the next phase of life. She appreciates the wisdom that comes with being almost 52 but says she doesn’t feel the need to age with grace. “I’m going to fight it every step of the way,” she says with a laugh. “[Looking  good] makes me feel good.” Complicated and  complex—that’s a beautiful thing every woman should be allowed to be.

For more from People's Beautiful Issue, check out our digital issue or pick up a copy on newsstands Friday.

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